Though he didn't show it, everyone seemed to get the feeling that what Makoto said about the mastermind pissed him off. They were aware that they were probably being watched and listened in on by him via the security cameras, so he probably overheard this hope-bent conversation.
As of such, when Monokuma called everyone to the gym later that day, everone was naturally pretty worried. However, that worry quickly turned into confusion when everyone saw just what it was that he had in store for them...And that was...
A workout regiment.
"Arms out! Up and down! Repeat after me! 1! 2! 3! 4!"
"1! 2! 3! 4!" The only person who repeated, in fact the only person who was actively participating in this workout was Taka. Though, that was probably to be expected. As detestable as Monokuma was, he still claimed to be the headmaster, and a diligent honor student would always do as the headmaster asked of him.
"Faster on the up and down!" Monokuma bellowed "bring 'em in and out again! In and out!"
Monokuma suddenly stopped what he was doing. He looked around at everyone else in the gym, with a disgruntled expression on his face.
"What's wrong with you brats!?" he snapped "why is the only one joining in Mr Fussypants over here!"
"Why the hell have we gotta do this anyway?" Junko asked "like, why are we here to begin with?"
"Well, there are two reasons," Monokuma explained "for one thing, the lot of you have been really miserable since yesterday, and that isn't good for a school environment!"
"Why the hell do you think that is?" Mondo growled "don't even try to pretend you forgot about yesterday..."
"Forgot about yesterday?" Monokuma repeated "oh, no worries, I remember yesterday quite vividly. From yesterday to this morning, I remember very well. Particularly that discussion you guys had this morning. You know, the one that had an ugly-trace of self-justification?"
"Self-justification?" Makoto repeated. Monokuma nodded.
"Listen up and take this to heart..." he leered "the act of judging someone is a heavy cross to bear! Make sure you can feel that weight! Order can only survive on the shoulders of sacrifice and responsibility!"
"Wh-What the heck are you talking about...!?" Toko trembled.
"All of this is on us...?" Hiro frowned "that's...rough man..."
"Ignore that piece of shit bear," Mondo growled "he always says whatever the fuck he wants...!"
"Ok, but...like, that aside..." Junko continued "you said that there were two reasons. That's one, what's the other?"
"Well, don't you think it's great having a good workout once in a while?" Monokuma asked "being indoors all the time is bad for your body!"
"You could just, I-I don't know, let us the hell out?" Toko asked "I mean, you're the one who locked us up here."
"I don't fret the small stuff, Mrs Harry Potter..." he taunted her in response.
"I believe what Junko is trying to say..." Sakura cut him off "is what is the REAL reason you have called us here. Do not patronize us. None of us are stupid enough not to realize you are concocting some sort of scheme. You did not call us here simply to excersize."
"Um, excuse me, what do you mean "simply"!?" Monokuma snapped "you only mock my workout because you can't handle my workout! The Monokuma WorkoutTM is filled to the brim with secret techniques from the Monkey Assassin Style! Techniques passed down through generations, from a secret fighting style used in an empire of darkness."
"That sounds like the kind of embarrassing idea that a middle schooler would come up with..." Hifumi commented.
"Whatever, just answer the question," Makoto snapped "why are we here?"
"Fine...FINE!" Monokuma growled "ya got me! The real reason I called you here is because I have an announcement to make!"
"And..." Chihiro began to ask "what is that?"
"For every class trial you survive, your world inside these walls will grow a little bit bigger!" Monokuma declared.
"The world...will grow bigger?" Hiro repeated, not following.
"Let's be real here. If you spent the rest of your lives inside the school without anything to excite you, then that'd just SUCK!" Monokuma explained.
"Pfft...this place already sucks..." Junko sneered.
"Plus, when kids your age run out of things to do, you start getting super cranky," Monokuma continued, ignoring her "so with that, you're free to begin exploring. As of today, the second floor of the academy is now opened up, just for you guys!"
And with that, he once again did the age-old thing of vanishing without any explanations...
"The second floor?" Kyoko repeated.
"Oh yeah, now that I think about it," Makoto pointed out "there were stairs going up, so there probably is a second floor to this building...but before, it was blocked off by an iron gate..."
"Oh! Do you think there's a way out on the second floor!?" Hina asked excitedly.
"I find that very unlikely..." Celeste bluntly replied.
"Well, we ain't looked yet!" Mondo bellowed.
"Regardless," Sakura said, the calm in Mondo's storm "it seems we will need to perform yet another search..."
"Alright soldiers!" Taka boomed "let's split up and move out! Once we have completed our rounds, like before, we shall rendezvous in the cafeteria!"
"I'm half convinced that you're a broken record given human form..." Byakuya sneered.
"It is called "consistancy!"" Taka bellowed "now move out!"
Just like Makoto had said, the shutters that blocked the students off from the stairs had been taken down. And like Taka commanded, the gang all split up and went to check different parts of the second floor.
Chihiro herself searched in the company of Hina, Celeste and Makoto. As soon as the three of them got up the stairs, they made a sharp turn left, and headed through a pair of doors with an anchor print on them. Hina seemed to have a decent idea as to where the doors led, and she seemed pretty upbeat about it.
Without waiting for the go ahead from everyone else, Hina ran through another pair of doors and then came back a few moments later, her face lit up with excitement.
"Guys! Oh my god, you guys!" she exclaimed "there's a pool in the back! A pool! There's a pool! A pool! A POOL!"
"Um..." Makoto scratched his face, then sarcastically asking "so, I take it there's a pool in the back?"
"There's a bunch of exercise equipment in the changing rooms too!" Hina pumped her arms in excitement "Sakura's gonna go nuts when she sees this!"
Exercise equipment...?
"Hina, you're way too excited..." Chihiro said "calm down a bit, p-please?"
Hina clearly wasn't listening. However, despite how annoying she was being, Chihiro prefered seeing her like this as opposed to being depressed like everyone else was earlier.
"I can't wait to try it out! Like, I'm dying to try it out!" Hina exclaimed "Chihiro, c'mon, you gotta go check it out!"
"U-Um...maybe later..." Chihiro stammered "to be honest...I don't really want to go swimming..."
"Huh? Can you not swim?" Makoto asked. Chihiro shook her head.
"N-No, I can...I just...don't like wearing swimwear..."
"Well...I can picture that..." Makoto said "forgive me for saying this, but you don't seem like the type of girl who would show off in a bikini...N-No offence..."
"None taken..." Chihiro smiled "but you said there was a bunch of exercise equipment in the changing rooms, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did. Why?" Hina asked.
"I might wanna try that out..." Chihiro admitted "maybe I should start working out a little..."
"Work out? You?" Makoto was expectedly surprised "that's...kind of surprising..."
Chihiro blushed "Even so...I'm a little...uneasy about going into the changing rooms..." she admitted.
"Do you not want to?" Makoto asked. Chihiro shook her head again.
"I-It's not that I don't want to, it's just..."
But she never finished what she was saying. Whatever end to her sentence she was looking for, it wouldn't come out.
"Hey, Celeste..." she said instead, noticing that the Ultimate Gambler hadn't joined in on the conversation the entire time she'd been there "are you ok? You've been quiet this whole time..."
"My apologies," Celeste said "I was distracted..."
"Distracted by what?" Hina asked. Celeste sighed.
"Distracted by...that..." She nodded towards something dangling from the ceiling. Something that Chihiro somehow didn't notice, despite it's large size.
It was a large, fully loaded, rotary machine gun. And it was aimed directly at one of the doors.
"Is that gun...real?" Chihiro asked "why would something like that be here?"
As if on queue, Monokuma suddenly burst out from seemingly nowhere yet again!
"I'm SO glad you asked!!" he yelled.
"EEEK!" Hina shrieked in surprise.
"What do you want now?" Makoto asked.
"Keep your hair on, I'm just here for a bit of an explanation," the bear shrugged "you see, in order to get in the changing rooms, you need to swipe your E-Handbook on the card reader besides it. It'll scan your information and let you in. However, as you'd probably expect, that information includes your gender, and it'll be looking for that in particular. You can only get in the guys changing room with a guys handbook, and only get in the girls with a girls. Makes sense, right?"
"Then, what happens if someone sneaks in if someone else leaves the door ajar?" Hina asked. Monokuma seemed to quietly cackle.
"Let's answer your question with another question..." he sneered "why do you think there's a machine gun propped to the roof?"
"You don't mean...!?" Makoto trembled as Monokuma's words hit him.
"Yeppers!" the menace cheered "if that happens, or if someone swipes their card on the wrong card reader, all involved parties will be seen as engaging in illicit sexual activities, and will be punished severely! With a little RATATATATATATATATA, if you know what I'm saying...!"
"If someone was shot with that, it'd really hurt though!" Hina exclaimed.
"Hurt!?" Chihiro squealed "they'd DIE!"
"This is an unrelated question..." Celeste piped up "but what if someone was to borrow someone else's E-Handbook? If a man borrowed a woman's E-Handbook, could he enter the the women's changing room?"
At her words, Monokuma fell silent. The silence lasted several seconds, before Makoto spoke up.
"Well!?" he asked "is it possible? Don't just button up!"
Monokuma stropped and looked down at his feet, sheepishly.
"I didn't think that part through..." he admitted.
"Are you kidding me!?" Hina exclaimed.
"Aw, screw it! No time like the present to reprimand it!" he exclaimed "here's how it's gonna go. You people are forbidden from loaning your E-Handbooks to anyone! That's a new rule I'm adding! Remember, if it's a rule, breaking it will result in punishment!"
"That is fine by me," Celeste fiddled with her drill "I highly doubt anyone would entrust their handbook to another anyway..."
"But damn, I can't help but think you're overcompensating for the security here..." Hina pointed out.
"Hey, it ain't my fault that High School kids like you guys are practically Mr and Ms Libido's!" Monokuma pretended to blush "kids your age get the hots for bottles of water as far as I'm aware! If I don't crank the security up to 11, how the hell am I gonna keep you from making any mistakes!?"
"Then why, might I ask, do you not show the same strictness in the dorm area?" Celeste asked "you've already proven that a student can stay over in each others rooms, even despite their gender. If a male and female did that, there's no telling what could happen..."
"Look here, Wednesday Addams, I'm getting sick and tired of you questioning my grip on authority around these parts!" the bear snapped at her "listen, all I care about is maintaining the sanctity of the school. And to me, the dorms are not part of the school, but their own separate entity. What happens there is of no concern to me. If you kids wanna get your rocks off, go ahead, but just keep that stuff to yourselves, alright?"
"You're awful, you know that?" Hina grumbled. Monokuma ignored her.
"Well, that's it for the rule stuff! Catch ya laters!"
And with that, he vanished.
"Jeez, way to kill the mood..." Hina sighed "I'm gonna go for a swim to cheer myself up...Hey, so Chihiro said she doesn't like wearing swimwear, so how about you two?"
"I'll...have to pass..." Makoto said.
"I dislike getting my face wet..." Celeste told her.
"Why!?" Hina exclaimed "swimming is always the answer!"
I think that only applies to you... Chihiro thought.