Day 17
After the morning announcement Makoto made his way to the dining hall, and immediately noticed Toko was there for once "What are you s-staring at...?"
"Oh, Toko...?"
"What, you think y-your eyes will rot just by l-looking at me? Fine, then DON'T l-look at me!"
"I think he's just surprised to see you at the breakfast meeting, is all..." Hiro told her
"Indeed. It's been quite a while since you joined us." Sakura added
"Yeah, what made you change your mind?" Hina asked
Toko looked down as her face went red "Byakuya said he...l-likes girls to have some meat o-on her bones, so... I'm g-gonna start eating! I'm gonna force it d-down into my stomach! I'm gonna eat till I d-drop!"
"I refuse to l-lose!" Hina took that as a challenge for some reason
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Sakura advised
"Well, other than that..." Makoto looked around again "it looks like Kyoko and Quill aren't here."
"Oh, they said they'd come by later." Hiro told him
"Later...?"
"Yeah. After you leave."
"I don't know what you did, but they seemed super upset" Hina added
"You three just need to make up already, ya know?"
Makoto sighed, not having a chance to do that yet. he decided he needed to talk to Sakura first "U-Um...Sakura?"
"What is it?" she asked
"Can you make some time later? I was hoping I could talk to you."
"Can our talk wait till tomorrow? I'd like to get some rest today... For some reason, I've been feeling worn down these last few days."
"Huh? Are you sick? Did you get hurt?" Hina worried
"No, nothing serious. I've just had some minor aches and pains..."
"But it must be pretty bad if you have to go rest. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure a protein shake and some sleep will get me back on my feet."
"That's true, protein is good for all kinds of stuff!"
"You guys, like, worship protein. It's like your god or something..." Hiro commented
"Makoto! I dunno what it is you wanna talk to Sakura about, but save it till tomorrow! She's in pain!" Hina told him
"Y-Yeah, I got it..."
"Sorry..." Sakura apologized
"Well...for now, let's eat!" Hiro said
"E-Eat? I'm kinda n-nervous..." Toko smiled despite that
"Huh? How come?"
"Cuz...I don't usually...e-eat in front of other p-people. Ever since I w-was a kid, I'd...eat b-by myself."
"What about your family?"
"Oh, well-y-yeah. I used to live with my d-dad, my mom, and my m-mom."
"You had...two moms?"
"What? That's just how th-things were..."
"That's, like, a serious issue!"
"Just let it go." Hina told him "You're asking for trouble getting involved with her more than you have to."
"How d-dare you speak to me with that d-disgusting mouth of yours..." Toko's face went red again
"S-Stop saying stuff like that!"
"A-Anyway...I'm gonna go ahead and eat." Makoto said "If I don't, Kyoko and Quill will never show up."
"Pretty miserable situation, man." Hiro commented
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The day went by fairly uneventful until *Ding dong, bing bong* "Attention! Attention! Please gather in the gym as soon as you possibly can! Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly!"
As soon as everyone gathered in the gym "Okay, let's get this show on the road!" Monokuma jumped up onto the podium on the stage, as per usual
"You're about to give us your next motive presentation, aren't you?" Byakuya immediately started interrogating
"Hmm?"
"You got us all together to present another motive, right?"
"I-Is he right...?" Toko's eyes widened
"We have to go through this again...?" Hina lamented
"Ugh...no! Not again! I can't take it anymore!" Hiro shouted
Byakuya scoffed "I'm impressed by your level of dismay. You finally see just how low on the totem pole of life you really are."
"No... No, no, no... No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO!" Monokuma interrupted them "That's not it at all. We're not here to talk about motive. The reason I gathered you all here is so that I could get rid of my grudge."
"We have a grudge against you, of course, but I don't recall you ever having a grudge against us." Kyoko glared at him
"I told you yesterday, didn't I? An eye for an eye, a fang for a fang."
"Just get to the point" Quill ordered
"Well, Byakuya already told everyone how one of you might be working as a spy for me, right?" He only said that inside the bathhouse, didn't he?... That would mean... shit... wait, no he did say something during Celeste's wild goose chase. Plus I had also said something in the bathhouse which Monokuma didn't mention... so maybe we're safe... I hope...
"Yeah, so, what about it?" Byakuya continued interrogating
"Well today I'd like to tell you about that spy."
"What...?" Makoto reacted
"So guess what. The spy is actually Sakura Ogami!" he said it so casually, it made it seem like it wasn't even important
"What...? What did you just say?" Hiro stepped back
"He said the spy is Sakura." Byakuya grumbled
"Wh-What are you talking about? There's...there's no way Sakura's a spy!" Hina jumped to her defense "Right, Sakura?" no answer "Sakura...?
"And I might just make Sakura fulfill the promise she made sometime soon..." Monokuma continued "And if she doesn't...I can't be responsible for what might happen to that hostage of mine... Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. What you guys choose to do with that information is up to you. Roast her, boil her. Kill her, don't kill her. Whatever! Puhuhu... Either way, I can't wait...!" and he was gone. 'Fang for a fang', betrayal met with betrayal
"U-Um... So what does this mean? I-Is it true? Has Ogre really been spying on us for the mastermind!?" Hiro grabbed his head in a panic
"What are you saying!? There's no way!" Hina shouted at him
"But that is wh-what the stuffed animal said, r-right?" Toko said
"Well he's wrong! There's just...no way!"
Kyoko turned to who in question "Well, Sakura? If he's wrong, all you have to do is tell us."
"... I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier..." Sakura spoke lowly
"What...?"
"Then he was being serious for serious!? Ogre's been working for the mastermind!?" Hiro kept panicking
"I'm sorry..." Sakura apologized
Toko glared dagger at her "So you've b-been lying to us all this t-time?"
"I-It's not true...! Sakura was probably...being controlled! There's gotta be some...some reason! She didn't have a choice, she was just...forced to do it!" Hina continued defending her
"Yeah, I'm sure Hina's right." Makoto joined "The mastermind probably threatened her somehow, and Sakura had no choice but to do what she was told."
"Wh-What...? You're talking like y-you know that for a f-fact!" Toko aimed her glare towards Makoto now. ...He said he had a hostage...
"Because...I do know it for a fact. Because I saw it! I saw Sakura and Monokuma...fighting... And that's where I heard it... Monokuma mentioned a 'hostage' a second ago, right? And during their fight, I heard Sakura say she'd decided to fight against the mastermind."
"You...saw all that?" Sakura asked
"The mastermind took a hostage, so you were forced to swear loyalty to them, right? But in the end...you made up your mind to 'betray' the mastermind."
"Which means Sakura isn't our enemy. She's a friend who we can trust without question. Is that it?" Byakuya retorted "Ridiculous. Do you live in some sort of alternate reality fairy tale? She was the mastermind's tool. You absolutely cannot trust someone like that."
"H-He's right! We can't just believe whatever she says now!" Hiro agreed
"How can we even be sure she really did betray the mastermind? Maybe this is a double-bluff, and she's still doing exactly what the mastermind wants."
"Sakura would never do that!" Hina yelled
"Okay, then Sakura...if you really have cut ties with the mastermind, tell us who they really are."
"Well... Sorry, I can't. Even I don't know that." Sakura answered
"You don't know? That just makes you all the more suspicious."
"It really doesn't" Quill said "The mastermind revealing their identity to anyone, spy or not, would just be stupid"
"Yeah, she's telling the truth! You have to believe her!" Hina added
"Shut up. I'm not finished questioning her." Byakuya ordered "Next question. What's this about a 'promise'? What did the mastermind order you to do?"
"...I was told..." Sakura hesitated "...to kill one of my friends. Specifically Quill, if possible"
"...Was that always the deal or have I pissed off our mastermind that much?" Quill questioned
"That's how it has been from the beginning"
"I see. So even now, you've taken aim on our lives, rather Quill's" Byakuya said
"You're wrong, I'm telling you! Sakura would never do that!" Hina kept yelling
"Y-You don't have to yell, we can h-hear you just fine. Don't you have an i-inside voice...?" Toko sneered
"It's because you're not LISTENING to me!"
"Please, stop." Sakura said "You don't need to defend me anymore. I have to take full responsibility for this..."
"How do you intend to do that?" Kyoko asked
"By destroying the mastermind." she answered bluntly
"What...?" Makoto reacted
"I'm going to challenge then. Even if it means we both go down, I will defeat them. That is how I intend to take responsibility."
"H-Hold on! What do you mean, if you both go down!?" Hina asked frantically
"Hina...I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this."
"What...?"
"I didn't know what to do. I went back and forth about confiding in you again and again... But I was scared. I thought if I told you, you might think less of me."
"S-Sakura!"
"I'm sorry..." she turned away and left
*Ding dong, bing bong* "Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite..."
"Well, it's nighttime. We should all go to bed." Byakuya said
"Hold on! This whole thing with Sakura is-!" Hina was quickly cut off
"Over. She's our enemy. There's nothing more to discuss."
"No! Sakura is NOT our enemy!...Why...? Why doesn't anyone understand her...?"
"What is it you think you understand? You didn't even know who she really was."
"Th-That's-!"
"Hina" Quill interjected "Just stop. It's not worth it"
"B-But...!"
"Go to your room, cool down, and we can continue this discussion tomorrow." Kyoko told her. One by one everyone started to leave until Kyoko noticed Quill just standing there, staring at the security camera. "Quill?"
Quill smirked as he turned back to the door "... They're getting desperate"
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🎵 Anxiety
[Celeste]
"Quill?" Kyoko called for his attention again. He had spaced out multiple times during their bathhouse meeting.
After being brought back to reality, he tried to recompose himself and get back on track "R-right, right... so now we would need to-"
"Are you ok?"
The question managed to catch him off guard "I-I..." He couldn't manage to answer as his hands started shaking. After a while of silence he spoke again "... I... I don't know..." he stared at his still shaking hands "I don't know what... this is..."
"You're scared"
"...What?..." something as simple as that seemed to actually confuse him
"The mastermind appears to be against you specifically and sent someone after your life. This is the most danger you've been in and you're scared."
"N-no, that's not... I don't..."
"Being scared isn't a bad-"
He quickly cut her off "No! No, I-I don't... I've never had to deal with... any of this before"
"I would assume most haven't had to deal with a killing game"
"That's not what I mean... I've never felt anything that I have in the time we've been trapped here..." he started pacing back and forth while he kept his eyes locked on the ground "I don't know what any of this is, I don't know how to deal with... whatever this is"
"Quill?" she tried to snap him out of it, to no avail
"For as long as I can remember it has always been the same, I have felt next to nothing and now suddenly an entire part of my mind is different, and I can't understand it"
"Quill!" once again she failed to pull him out of his spiral
"And I don't know. There's something I don't understand. That shouldn't be possible! I have my reputation for a reason, I'm supposed to know everything I-"
"Kouyoku!" with that she succeeded and he froze. Though, even then she wasn't sure what to say.
After the deafening silence Quill leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. "I just... I don't get it... what happened...?"
"I don't have the answer for you, but... in an odd way, I think I can understand what you're feeling. You feel like some part of you is missing, like some part of you're life happened without you being there, some life changing event that you suddenly can't remember."
"I... y-yeah... I guess" could the memories that we lost really affect me that much?...
After another length of silence Kyoko took a deep breath as she walked towards Quill. She took her glove off and held her hand out to him. He looked up at her, confused "You said this was a sign of trust, yes?"
"Well... yeah, but we already-"
"We trusted each other to work together, this is to trust each other as people, aside from the killing game. It... may be good for us both to have someone to rely on, especially since we seem to be going through similar experiences"
With a bit of hesitation, Quill took his right glove off and took her hand as she pulled him up off the ground. He took a minute to recompose himself before he spoke again "... Anyway, we need to go, we can't use too much time"
🎵X
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The two were now stood in front of the 2nd floor boy's bathroom. "I'll stand watch here, you go check" Kyoko told Quill
"Right, I find it hard to believe that all of it is gone." and so he walked in, to the last stall filled with cleaning supplies, pushed the back wall, opening the way to a dingy backroom with bare concrete walls. the only things in the room being a wooden desk with a stool, and an empty bookshelf. despite said bookshelf seemingly being what he was there for, he paid it no mind. instead he went straight for the desk and opened its top drawer to get the ethernet cable that it held. Conveniently, there was an ethernet port in the wall, which he plugged it into. For the other end of the cable he pulled a laptop out of the inside of his jacket. Turning the laptop on caused Alter Ego to appear on screen.
[So how's that?] "Yeah! I think it worked!" Quill typed something else in before standing back up "Got it! I just have to follow the plan! leave the rest to me! Just hold tight and put your faith in me!" He went to leave, but went back to the laptop again [I'll be back. I won't leave without you, promise.] "Promise?... Thank you. Thank you, Quill"
Once returning to the hall he was met with Kyoko who had been waiting there, as she said. "How'd to go?"
He sighed "Its gone. All of it."
"I see... Then there's nothing left for us here."
"So it would seem
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The Canary's Birdcage
Vanilla Valentine - Vanilla Vanguard
12/30/2023