Suddenly, we heard the doors open. Melody, Aoi, and Sakura walked in and sat around the tables. I told Chi to sit between Aoi and Melody. She nodded and left me in the kitchen. I began cooking food for everyone. While I was cooking, I heard everybody talking about what we found. Sadly, not much was found, except for a map of the first floor.
"Okay, we got a map. It's a start." I said, walking into the dining area. Everybody looked my way and saw the trays of food on my arms and hands. Sakura and Chi stood up, but I told them to not worry. I then delivered the food to everyone. Afterwards, I stood with my hands on my hips. "This is what I call, 'Breakfast for Dinner'! In front of you are wide selections of French Toast, Omelets, Pancakes, and other delectable breakfast foods."
It appeared to please the group, except for two people: Byakuya and Celeste. However, Celeste always had a poker face. "This is exquisite, Jeremiah. Thank you." Even though she had a stoic face, I could sense the happiness emitting from her.
"This is great, bro!"
"You remind me of Sebastian from Black Butler!"
"Please be my dad!"
I was getting flustered from the compliments, but then was doused with a voice of cold ice, "You lot trust this man too easily." We all turned to Byakuya and saw him reading a book, "For all we know, he could have poisoned the food and killed you all."
Everybody began panicking, except for Melody and I, "Oh really? Well, hate to bust your bubble, but I don't have access to poisons, because there are none on the first floor. Also, I want everyone to escape. I will admit, it may be impossible to get everyone out. That's why I'll do my best to protect you guys. I vow to protect you."
Everybody went silent, except for Byakuya, "Very well then. I shall hold you to your word."
The intercom buzzed to life, "Attention students! We have entered 'Nighttime'! The time is 10 pm. Certain areas will be closed off and are forbidden to enter at this time. Please go to your designated living quarters on the double! Goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the knife bite!"
"Well that's an interesting announcement." I commented.
"May I apply a new rule?" Celeste asked. "It's not official, but we should forbid the leaving of our rooms during Nighttime, otherwise we'll have to sleep in fear of someone entering our rooms."
We all agreed and returned to our rooms. I walked into mine and took a glance around. Blue blanket on the bed, a desk in the corner, blue flooring, red walls, a crossbow on top of my wardrobe?
"I've also left you all a gift in your rooms. I highly encourage you let your imagination run wild!" I fell on the bed and drifted off to sleep. I really hate that bear.
I felt someone touch my shoulder. I grabbed the hand and threw the person on the bed. I quickly jumped back and saw Chi laying on the bed with a dizzy look on her face. "Oh my God, Chi! Are you okay? I am so sorry!"
She slowly got up from the bed, looked at me and smiled, "I-It's alright, Jeremiah! I knew you w-weren't trying to hurt me. I-It's my fault for walking in your room."
I tilted my head, "How did you get in here?"
She shyly pointed at my door, "You left the door unlocked. I came here to wake you up for breakfast, but you didn't answer. I got worried when your door wasn't locked." I couldn't blame Chi for something I forgot. So, I ruffled her hair and we walked to the dining room. We waited for everybody else. Once they arrived, we ate breakfast and got to work on escaping. Sadly, we were hitting numerous dead ends.
"Argh! We're not getting anywhere with searching the same thing twice!" Leon yelled.
Chi started freaking out, "W-We're never going to leave this place...N-Nobody's going to be looking for us." I rubbed her back and while doing so, I noticed something odd about Chi, but decided not to bring it up.
"Don't worry, Chihiro! Someone is bound to look for us as of now!" Aoi cheered.
"Huh? Why's that?" Junko asked.
"Guys, it's been three days already!" Aoi said.
"Wait, THREE DAYS?!" I yelled.
Melody rubbed the back of her head, "You fell asleep all day yesterday. You were exhausted from cooking dinner two days ago, remember?" I nodded. "Well, I might have forgotten to wake you up and so we kept looking for an exit," She laughed nervously.
"Anyway, the police are looking for us since we've been gone!" Aoi continued.
Suddenly, Monokuma started laughing from the other side of the table. "Seriously? You're gonna bet on the police? To be honest, you kids have some balls when it comes to the authorities. Anyway, I came here to tell you...I'M BORED!! What'll it take for a decent murder to happen? I had everything set up: the setting, the characters, the plot! What gives?"
Makoto stood up, "Face it, no one's going to kill each other no matter what you-"
"Oh, I got it! I knew I was missing something! I forgot the motive! In that case, everybody march on over to the entertainment room!" Monokuma ordered.
We all followed the two-toned death bear into the audio/video room. There was rows of computers in front of us and a big screen for projections at the far end of the room. Monokuma handed out CD's with our names on them and told us to play them. I did so and watched the Monokuma loading screen.
"I know who you are." Words on the screen popped up. "You can't save everyone. People will die, and there'll be nothing you can do about it."
I couldn't believe it. How did he know? I broke out of my trance when I saw a video of a child. She wore a small, light blue dress, had her black hair in a ponytail, and was giggling while running around in a empty field of green, with me on her tail. I was a child in the video, too.
"I'm gonna get ya, sis!"
"Nuh-uh!"
I couldn't help but smile. Suddenly, the screen went black and Monokuma's face popped up. Then, giant yellow words appeared and gave me a feeling I forgot: Fear.
"You must graduate if you want to protect your precious sister. "
"N-No. I can't. I p-promised to protect everyone! W-Why?" I stuttered. I glanced around the room and saw that everybody else had the same look on their faces, except Melody and Kirigiri. Melody looked confused, whereas Kirigiri had the same emotionless face.
"What do you want from us?" She demanded.
Monokuma's face appeared on the projection screen, "Why, despair, of course!" He cackled. Maizono darted out of the room, with Makoto right after her. I walked over to Melody and made sure she was okay.
"All I had was a black screen. No words or pictures. What about you?" She asked me. I whispered my response into her ear. She had a shocked look, but then hung her head, "We weren't chosen for our talents, were we?"
I shook my head, "Maybe Monokuma saw a different talent in us that he liked." I felt a tug on my tux and looked down towards Chi, "What is it, little one?"
She looked towards the ground, "I-I'm scared." Tears threatened to flow from her eyes, "I d-don't w-want anyone to kill e-each other. F-Friends aren't supposed to kill each other."
I hugged her, "Hush now, everything is going to be okay. I swore to protect you guys, and I never break promises."
She looked at me, sniffled, then smiled, "T-Thank you, Jeremiah!"
I chuckled, then escorted her to her room. Before I could leave, Chi wanted to show me something. She led me to her laptop and started typing a series of complex programming commands. I asked her what she was programming.
"I'm making an AI that can interact with whoever is using the program. I also hope it can help us escape." She hoped.
"Just hope Build-a-Bear doesn't catch you or your AI." I warned.
She laughed, "Yeah, that'll be terrible." I walked to the door, but Chi called out to me. "Can I...tell you something? A secret?" I nodded. "W-Well...you see...I-I'm a....boy."
It was a record scratch moment. But then, I remembered the oddity back at the dining area. When I was rubbing her back, I noticed the absence of a bra strap. Hey! Don't judge me! You'd notice a bra strap when rubbing a girl's back! Anyway, I didn't think much about it until that moment. I only smiled, "I know."
Chi was shaking again, "Y-You do?"
I walked up to him and hugged the poor guy, "Chi, I won't judge you. In fact, I'm going to help you."
He looked up at me, "You mean...You'll help me get stronger?"
I tilted my head, "So that's what you wish for? Very well then! I shall do my best to make you stronger! I vowed to protect you all, which also means helping you with any problems you have. So, when do you want to start?"
He flinched, "W-Wait. Me?"
I tilted my head again, "Well, you wanted to get stronger, right?" He nodded. "Therefore, it's only logical if you decided when to start and stop."
He began to think, "How about we start in two days? We'll only train for about an hour."
I smiled, "Sounds like a plan! Goodnight, Chi!"
I opened the door, but Chi stopped me, "Before you go, please don't tell anyone else! Not yet, at least. I want to tell everyone myself, once I feel confident enough."
I nodded and bowed. I then left his room and walked to mine. I climbed into my bed and started to fall asleep, but then heard something slide under my door. I saw a piece of paper on my floor, picked it up and read its contents.
There's something I want to talk to you about. Meet me at my room once everybody is asleep. Make sure you look for the nameplates so you don't walk into the wrong room.
-Sayaka Maizono
I raised an eyebrow, shrugged, left my room and searched for Maizono's. I found her name plate, but when I pulled out my handbook, it said the room was Naegi's. I decided to question her about it. I opened her door, which revealed a pitch black room, I closed the door behind me. Suddenly, I heard footsteps running at me, fast.
"DIE!!" A voice yelled.
Due to the darkness, I couldn't see well. I was able to dodge an attack, however I felt a burning pain in my side. I grabbed the attacker's arm, slammed them into the ground, pinned them, and turned on the lights. Maizono was underneath my knees, struggling.
"Why did you send me the note?" I questioned.
"I just wanted to get out of here!" She yelled.
"I thought you, of all people, would never do such a thing. It's saddening to see I was wrong," I commented. "Why do you want to leave?"
She started sobbing, "M-My group. They were the reason I became famous! I-If anything were to happen to them…"
I disarmed her, then pulled her into a hug, "Hey, it's okay. I know you want to leave, but there's a better way to escape. We cannot play into Monokuma's paws."
Sayaka sniffled, "You're right. I-I'm so sorry for attacking you."
I laughed, "It's alright. You got a good hit on me, I will admit."
She started panicking, "Oh my God! You're bleeding, we need to get a first-aid kit!" I reassured her that I was fine. She still grabbed one for me, which I took to my room. After bandaging myself, I fell asleep in my bed. I hope you'll be okay, Maizono.