"Okay, wait, what did you all think of Turning Red since I didn't ask in the last chapter?" Lou asked the group as the credits began to roll.
Stewie's brows furrowed. "Wait, what? 'Last chapter'?"
"It was beautiful," Mei quickly said.
"A modern masterpiece," Priya deadpanned.
"It had so much feeling," Miriam said with a jokingly classy air. "So much depth. It was a lovely experience."
"Eleven out of ten!" Abby rated. "Would literally rewatch until the end of time!"
"It was a great coming-of-age movie," Lois said. "I honestly really liked it!"
"I really enjoyed the symbolism and metaphors surrounding female puberty," Brian overanalyzed. "It's honestly a fun concept, and it was done really well."
Monika smiled. "I agree with Brian; the subtle symbolisms and metaphors throughout the film were really well-implemented! Even ignoring that, the story and theme hold up really well."
"Mei's panda is so freaking cool," Meg stated.
Chris nodded. "Yep. I was thinking the same thing."
Peter shrugged. "Yeah. Me, too."
"I personally enjoyed all the mass destruction!" Stewie exclaimed. "Oh, but the story was pretty great, too."
"THE ANIME TROPES IN 3-D ANIMATION," Alphys screamed. Exactly seven others shared her weeb excitement:
"I KNOW," Undyne sighed.
"IT WAS SO WELL-DONE!" Uraraka exclaimed.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEE," Denki 'ree'd.
"YES," Sero shouted.
"YES," Mina also shouted.
"It was a creative concept!" Iida said.
Todoroki smiled. "I actually really liked those parts."
"it was good," Sans said, ending the series of weeb comments. "new favorite of mine, if i'm being totally honest."
"I QUITE ENJOYED THE FILM AS WELL," Papyrus commented. "THE THEME WAS SO INSPIRING! FACING THE WORST PARTS OF YOURSELF AND MAKING THE BEST OF THEM... HMM... SANS!" Papyrus looked over at his brother. "YOU FOUND THE FILM INSPIRING AS WELL, RIGHT?"
Sans, unsure of where this was going, hesitated. "uh... sure, paps."
"GREAT! THEN PERHAPS WITH THE MESSAGE OF FACING YOUR FLAWS, YOU'LL FINALLY BE MOTIVATED TO PICK UP YOUR SOCK? MAYBE EVEN CLEAN YOUR ROOM?"
"good try, bro. never gonna happen."
"I really don't care," Flowey deadpanned.
"Well, the art style was nice," Deku said. "And... I really liked the story about being your own person and facing the ugliest parts of yourself, embracing them!"
Kirishima shrugged. "I just liked it. Plain and simple. It's a fantastic movie."
"I... yeah, it's good," Bakugo muttered.
"It was very cute," Aizawa said. "An inspiring message for the right demographic."
Lou clapped her hands, standing up and sauntering to the center of the room. "Alright, screen break time!" She snapped her fingers, creating a stool and massive rug. "Gather 'round children, and I shall read you a mentally disturbing tale written by a fellow gay child."
Confused, everyone reluctantly walked over to the carpet, sitting down wherever they found space, criss-cross-applesauce. Well, most people sat criss-cross-applesauce. Anyway, that's irrelevant:
"So what is this mentally disturbing tale?" Brian asked as Stewie curled up beside him, leaning his head on the dog's shoulder.
Lou grabbed a book from nowhere. "This, my friends, is 'The Murdering Lover,' by my friend McG. Originally written as a school project, this story... is completely on crack. McG was very excited when I asked them if I could use this. Regardless, without any further ado, let's dive into this chaotic tale. Expect a few spelling and grammar mistakes throughout, and, as always, commentary is encouraged." Lou flipped open the first page of the book...
Hello, I am Summer Ray. I go to a large town school called Origin Area High school. I live with my mother. There are only about 400 students, but I have my interest in one in particular. His name is Carter Grove, he has straight dark brown hair. He loves books and he's very smart! But I am too scared to talk to him, but we have another problem in the scenario.
"Ah yes, the classic case of a shy girl going after the perfect boy," Stewie said disapprovingly. "How original."
"I'm a sucker for that trope," Mei admitted.
"Hey, m-me, too," Alphys said.
"What's this other problem, though?" Aizawa asked himself.
"I should get some friends to hang out with." I say to myself as I see Carter talking to another girl.
"YOU FORGOT TO MAKE LUNCH AGAIN, CARTER?" Exclaims a girl I have never seen before. "UGH, I am SO tired of you forgetting your lunch. But, luckily i have an extra for you, just don't make this a normal habit."
"Ew, a needy popular bitch," Ashido said with a cringe.
"Mina-chan's not wrong," Uraraka added.
"If this is so 'mentally disturbing,'" Monika said, "I honestly hope she gets killed off."
"considering it's called 'the murdering lover,' then yeah, i'm with you," Sans agreed.
Most of the room silently nodded or shrugged in agreement.
"I'm sorry Isabella, I have a lot on my mind right now." Carter says with sadness in his voice.
"Just, meet me under the garden archway later, okay? I want to discuss something with you."
I whisper to myself, "If she thinks she can just go around STEALING people's soulmates, she has another thing coming. I'm not going to steal her soulmate, I'm going to steal her soul..."
Uraraka's eyes widened. "That was an unironically great line."
"'Forget their soulmate, I'll steal their soul...' I might reuse that some time," Brian muttered.
Stewie hummed. "In that novel, Brian? You- your novel that you're working on? Hm? That novel?"
"Shut up, Stewie."
The bell for 1st class rings, I share a class with Isabella in room 2-1. I could either get her expelled or go with.. Another, more dangerous way.
Stewie gasped. "The main character is actually the villain! This may be more interesting than I thought..."
"An evil protagonist... It's a cool concept," Deku said.
"Maybe I'll try something like this with the speaker of my next poem," Monika muttered, thinking out loud.
"The writers in the room are getting a lot of inspiration from this," Priya said.
"And here I was laughing at the chaos," Miriam grumbled.
But first, I must join the painting club so if i get any evidence on me it doesn't look suspicious. I will just wear the art smocks and tell everyone its red paint and I'm taking out the trash.
"Who would fall for that?" Meg asked.
"Yeah, that's simultaneously the most and least creative solution they could have come up with," Brian said.
I think things over during the class, but the next thing I know the bell rings for class to end. I follow her through the school hallways until she stops at the school bathroom. I hear her talking to someone on the phone, but I figure this is the perfect time to strike. I run to the cooking club that is down the hall from the shower bathrooms and grab a knife. I also steal a paperclip off the floor and unfold it into a lockpick. I had planned to use the garbage bags in the bathroom and the mop to mop up any type of evidence. I use the lockpick to get into her stall and find her standing up talking on the phone.
Sero's eyes narrowed. "She was on the phone that whole time?"
"Who the hell was she calling?" Bakugo quietly asked.
I kick her down and she cracks her head on the wall. I put my hand over her mouth and plunged the knife into her heart. "Night night," I growled.
Todoroki's eyes widened. "That was really fucking dark."
Half the room collectively shuddered.
"E-even for me," Monika whispered to herself.
I then place her in the garbage bag and use the mop to clean up the blood, and then I wash the mop blood down the sink drain. I run down the hallway covered in red "paint" and finally get outside.
"What about Isabella's phone?" Meg asked.
"I would assume Summer threw that in the garbage bag along with the body," Iida said.
"...Yeah," Lou said, "let's go with that."
"I didn't plan this far ahead." I say softly.
But, for some reason our school has a LITERAL INCINERATOR BEHIND THE SCHOOL! I place the trash bag and knife in the incinerator.
"welp, that was easy," Sans said.
"And too convenient," Kirishima added.
"I will leave the bloody smock on since i'm in the painting club" I think to myself.
At the end of the day Carter stands underneath the garden archway just to be ghosted by someone who is now dead.
The police are called to school at the start of the next day. "Why are the police here?" I hear one student ask.
The police chief and 9 other police officers are here to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Isabella Maria Jane.
"OH NO..." Papyrus said.
"Well, Summer's fucked now," Kaminari joked.
Bakugo scoffed. "Yeah, no shit."
"She didn't leave behind any evidence, though," Miriam pointed out.
"She's bound to do something else and get caught, I'm guessing," Mei said.
"We'll just have to see how this all plays out, I suppose," Lois said, shutting up the group so Lou could continue reading.
"The last time I saw Isabella was earlier when she went to the bathroom and I went to my classes," Carter exclaims as he pleads for Isabella to return.
"Not gonna happen, Carter," Peter said in a mock-sweet voice. "Your girlfriend is dead!"
The Bakusquad went full-meme:
"Miss Keisha? Miss Keisha! Oh my fucking god, she's fucking dead."
"This bitch is dead, dead as hell."
"That's why your shoes raggedy!"
"That's why your girlfriend dead. Dead as hell. What shoes she got on?"
"Quit it, you dumbass nerds."
"BAKU-CHAN, YOU KNOW YOU LOVE US!"
"Shut the fuck up, Raccoon Eyes."
"JOKE'S ON YOU, RACCOONS ARE CUTE, THAT'S A COMPLIMENT!"
"COMPLIMENT MY ASS YOU–"
"Kids," Aizawa said warningly. "Stop."
"I know what happened!" says the man I despise, the Headmaster.
Headmaster Maximus. I HATE that man with all of my soulless, hollow, murder loving heart. That idiodic freak demands the police search the entire school and investigate all students.
"I WILL NOT LET A MURDER TARNISH OUR REPUTATION! FIND THE CULPRIT AND ARREST THEM!" he demands as he looks at the large crowd of students.
"Ah, the classic 'evil school principal' trope," Brian said blankly.
"He's only really a minor antagonist here," Lou informed. "Still, yes. Anyway:"
They call for the interagaters, they show up in a police van with a room inside.
"This could take several days, Dr. Maximis, are you sure you want to proceed?"
"Is that a stupid question? Of course I want to proceed. What kind of idiot do you cops take me for?"
"A big one..." the cop mumbles.
"That's what she said."
"PETER NO."
" P E T E R Y E S . "
"What was that?" Dr. Maximus roars.
"Nothing, Mr. Maximus."
"IT IS DOCTOR MAXIMUS."
Unfortunately, while the headmaster and Cops were arguing, it looked like some had their eyes on MY soulmate. His name was Aiden Davis. He had long blond hair going over his eyes. He was one of the shortest kids in the school.
"Wait, I am confused," Iida spoke up. "It was Carter whom Summer was interested in, correct?"
"Yeah, how can this Aiden kid be her soulmate all of a sudden?" Flowey asked.
"I've asked McG about this before; they can't give me a straight answer," Lou said.
Papyrus sighed. "SO A HUMAN CAN HAVE A CRUSH AND A SOULMATE AT THE SAME TIME? THIS IS JUST TOO COMPLICATED, EVEN FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING!"
But, we have to pull an Isabella card on him. I decided to spread a rumor about him.
"Hey, did you know that Aiden Davis murdered his cat?"
"No, I didn't know that. I will stay away from that kid!"
Everyone continues to spread. The rumors goes on and on. Until Aiden finds out. His life descends into hell.
"Summer Ray, please report to the guidance office immediately" Exclaims the intercom.
"It's such a random rumor, though," Chris said.
"Yeah, how did it get this bad?" Kirishima asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lou, staring at Kirishima, physically fought the urge to make a joke about a certain Rock raising a single brow in a similar fashion. She pulled her gaze back to the book and kept reading.
"I assume you know why you're here, Ms Ray," snarled the Guidance Counselor Ms Land.
"What did I do?" I grumbled.
"According to other students, you have been spreading a false rumor about Aiden Davis, is that true?"
"No it is not. How dare you accuse me of such false information!"
"Ms Ray, watch your tone!"
I threaten, "If you dare mention this rumor to anyone else, you will be dead before you can leave school tomorrow."
"S-Summer, don't blow y-your cover!" Alphys exclaimed.
"braincells, kiddo!" Sans said. "where did they go?"
"THAT'S IT SUMMER. SUSPENSION FOR 3 DAYS!"
The scariest part was going home and waiting for my mothers reaction.
Oh wait, I forgot that I killed her and she's dead.
"WAIT, WHAT?" literally everyone screamed at once while Lou smirked.
On the first day of my suspension I decided to get out of the house and follow Aiden home. He looked extremely depressed and angry. He goes to his backyard holding a rope and carrying a chair.
"HUMAN!" Papyrus cried. "NO!"
"Oh, shit," Undyne said at length, her voice low and dark.
"Please, Aiden, don't do it," Izuku said desperately.
He ties the rope on the tree branch and stands on the chair. He committed suicide because of the rummor.
"Aiden, I'm home! Aiden? Where are y- AIDEN! OH MY GOD NO NO NO THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!"
Aiden's mother calls the police and then his father. They are unaware the reason he committed suicide.
Sans' eyesockets went dark. "poor kid..."
"All because Summer convinced the whole school he murdered his cat," Aizawa muttered to himself disbelievingly. "Teenagers scare the living shit out of me..."
"They could care less, as long as someone will bleed?" Sero speak-sang.
"SO DARKEN YOUR CLOTHES-"
Nobody knows who continued the song, but a chunk of the room finished the chorus together: "OR STRIKE A VIOLENT POSE, MAYBE THEY'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE, BUT NOT ME!"
By the time I return to school it is Friday and I felt extremely proud of myself for eliminating the people who tried to get between me and Carter. "But how many more times will I have to do this?" I whisper to myself. "It's just a matter of time before the next person appears and attempts to steal my sweetheart."
And just like that the strangest thing happened, a literal TEACHER has a crush on Carter.
"EW."
"N-no. Just no."
"AYO-"
"WHAT. THE. FUCKING. FUCK?"
"DISGUSTING."
"FIRE THEIR ASS."
"Midnight though."
"SERO NO—"
"I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE, OKAY?"
Number one, how DARE she try to steal him. Carter is about to go missing so that teacher cannot get him. I go to the nurses office and steal the sleeping medication. Carter then goes to use the restroom but leaves his lunch at the table. I crush the medication and sprinkle it on top and inside the salad.
He starts going limp and falls over. I carry him to an empty box in the storage room and place him inside without being seen. At 5 oclock the painting club activity ends, and I go to get the box. I carry the large heavy box home without get any suspicious looks.
"That's great, just one question." Monika, smiling, took a deep breath. "How... the hell...
"–D̸̡̡͖̬̯͗͒̽̅̃ͅĮ̴̝̗̰̰̞̐D̵̜̄̾̐͂͛̕ ̸̧͖̖̯̝̤̬̃̌̂̋͊͜N̶̦̏̔̃͋́Õ̴̡̦̝̝̫̱̰̓̈́B̵̞̄̿Ỏ̵̫̇D̵̯̪̰̤̗͚̈́Y̵̻̰̽̍͒̎̍̅̈́̚ ̶̯̠͉͙̂̍F̷̨̣̪͛Ĭ̵̤͖̻̘̰͓̽̽ͅͅṊ̸̨͐̆̓̂͘̕Ḍ̵́̂͛̃͘ ̷̟͎̾͠Ṯ̴̨̹̂̈́̍͂̋̚͜͝H̸̛͖̀̀̈́͆͗̚͝Ǎ̶̯̫̱̩̝̲̭̓̽̀̍̍͋̌T̵̨̳̥̄̚ ̶̢͔̩̠͙̤̿S̸̯͕̻͓̋͐̂͘U̸̡̟̩̱̭̦̝̤̇̓͘S̶̢̻͈̩̀̈́͑́̈́P̵͉̘̙͇̙̳̊̓̈I̵͕͕͎̺̩̓̋̐̒̎͂Ḉ̵͔͙͍͍͐̇̈́I̵̧͎͙̠͂Ö̷̢̗̖̳̠͖̳̳̀̀̒̆̉͂U̷͇͊͆͑̄̊̒͆̊S̵̛̛̬̪̫̦̥̅̒̿͝?" she shrieked, voice and form quite literally glitching.
"JESUS, MONIKA, CHILL," Lou chastised, clutching onto her book for dear life at the Literature Club President's sudden outburst. "THE PLOT HAS HOLES; WHY IS THIS A SURPRISE?"
"Uh, Monika, are you okay?" Meg asked as everyone stared at Monika in terror.
Monika's appearance went back to normal. "Ehehe, yeah... sorry about that."
Everyone took a minute to relax again before Lou continued reading:
I get into my house and tie Carter up to a chair. I tape his eyes and mouth shut.
"I UNDERSTAND TAPE OVER THE MOUTH TO ACT AS A GAG," Papyrus spoke up, "BUT... EYES?"
"That must hurt like hell," Bakugo said.
"Oh, it does," Peter said.
Everyone was struck silent.
Abby eventually spoke up. "Sorry, WHAT?"
"Yeah, long story. I would do a cutaway, but–"
"No time," Lou said. "Sorry. Let's keep going:"
I also tie his hands and legs to the chair. Around 6 p.m. I hear him waking up. I get him some more sleeping medication and feed it to him. "He's out for a while," I think to myself.
"What about the duct tape?" Aizawa asked himself.
"It all magically disappears; don't question," Lou said.
"Hm, unsurprising."
Later he then wakes up and screams. I then toruture him for hours on end until he behaves and listens to me.
"LISTEN TO ME YOU LITTLE B-" I scream.
"Make. Me."
"Fine..."
I torture him for many more hours. Until the point where he is covered in blood. My chances of getting with him are ruined. Our chance of family is gone. I ruined everything. "Why did I do this?"
"For love, apparently," Monika said.
Flowey scoffed to himself. "You're one to talk..."
I throw him outside in my backyard and head down to the basement. I pick up the knife I used to tortue him for hours on end with and point it at my neck. I place the knife along my neck.
I write a note before a stab myself.
I stab my throat and blood gushes everywhere. The pain was excruciating. It was the most painful thing I ever felt, but it was also the last. I collapse to the ground.
The note reads, "If you are reading this, why are you in my home? To investigate? If so, I'm already gone so you have nobody to investigate. Your attempts for success have failed until now. I did commit the crimes, I did force Aiden to commit suicide, I murdered them all."
"What an experience," Todoroki said blankly.
"It was... quite the short story," Brian agreed.
"I can't tell if I'm sad or just confused," Uraraka said.
"Y-yeah, it was interesting, t-to say the least," Alphys said with a shrug.
Lou snapped the book shut overdramatically. "So I'm assuming we liked it, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and all?"
"It would not be possible for us to have heard the spelling mistakes, though—" Iida attempted to argue.
"Yes? Great!" Just as mysteriously as it had appeared, the book vanished from Lou's hand, leaving a small trail of sparkles and light that quickly faded away. "Next up, I have a new group of guests to bring! So, please welcome... Danganronpa!"
With a mystical swirl of sparkles trailing through the air, eleven new people fell on the reaction room floor. Normally, they should have started stirring within about a minute of being summoned. That's what happened with everyone else. That's how it should have gone.
But... something went terribly wrong.
Lou had tried her hardest. She had concentrated as much magic as possible on helping those who needed it, and yet the effort was utterly fruitless. Every survivor was out cold from the sheer concentration of pure magic that had been forced upon them. And the other six...
A pink fluid slowly began to coat the floor around them.
Lou cursed, terrified. "I... this wasn't s-supposed to... damn it." The lights went out briefly, and when they came back, the eleven newcomers were nowhere to be seen. Lou plastered an energetic smile on her face. "Sorry about that little mishap, besties! You're all free to take a quick break, do... pretty much whatever. I have a few little things to attend to behind the scenes. I'll be back in ten or so."
Before anyone could object or ask the mile-long list of questions spinning through their heads, the Author disappeared in a cloud of pastel sparkles and lights.
Internally, Lou was panicking. PANICKING. Their magic was supposed to heal the victims, not overwhelm and knock out the survivors! What the hell were they going to do? Try a few healing spells and pray they work? They didn't know. They didn't know and they were freaking the fuck out.
Lou appeared in the makeshift medbay she had previously set up beyond the reaction room for emergencies like this, each character from the infamous murder mystery series set up in a hospital bed. Lou took a deep breath, pondering her next move.
"I'm fucked, but let's at least give this a shot."