I found my E-Handbook on the cart, underneath Angie's, and pulled it out. Turning it on, a splash screen displayed, reading "The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center", with "Bera Haikiko: Ultimate Tailor" underneath it. It also displayed the time: 4:50pm.
After the initial screen disappeared, a series of menus showed up: Yearbook, Map, Rules, Chat, Games, Music, Notepad, and Settings. However, before I could select any of them, the Rules was overlapping everything, with a greyed-out "I Accept" button at the bottom of it. The only thing I could do was read the rules and keep scrolling down, so I did.
Rule 1: "Nighttime is from 10pm until 7am. The water will be shut off to the facility at this time, and the Dining Hall, Trash Room, and Pool will be closed at this time. Any time, outside of this period, is considered Daytime."
Rule 2: "Sleeping anywhere except the dormitory, regardless of what time it is, is prohibited. This is considered sleeping in class."
Rule 3: "Letting another student use your handbook is prohibited. This is considered a security violation, as the Pool Room tracks who enters and leaves it via the E-Handbook."
Rule 4: "Violence against Headmaster Monorakun is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras. This is considered vandalism of school property."
Rule 5: "With minimal restrictions, you are otherwise free to explore The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center at your own discretion."
Rule 6: "Students must live at The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center for the rest of their lives. There is only one exception to this rule, which Monorakun will explain upon request."
Rule 7: "Any student who fails to accept the Terms and Conditions within 24 hours of their Class Orientation faces permanent expulsion."
Rule 8: "Additional Rules may be added by Headmaster Monorakun, at his discretion. When this happens, every E-Handbook's Rules section will be immediately updated, and a message will be sent out to the Group Chat with the new rule."
My eyes nervously settled back on Rule 6. "The rest of their lives"? "One exception to this rule"? I was worried about asking what it would take to leave this place.
However, I didn't have to wait long, as Kaito spoke up first. "Hey! This isn't what we agreed to! We agreed to work on our talents, not to be locked in here forever!"
Monorakun chuckled. "Huh? You just got here, and now you wanna leave already? Sorry, no can do. Well, unless you use the one exception, of course." He was clearly baiting Kaito to ask him how to escape, and Kaito took it.
"Ok, then how do we get out of here, after we're done?"
Monorakun started laughing. "Well, you've got to KILL another student, AND get away with it! Of course, there's a little more to it than not being seen. Lemme go over it for ya."
Monorakun started pacing back and forth. "First, you gotta off one, or two, of your classmates. No more than two, though, or that's a disqualification! After the victim is dead and the killer, known as the Blackened, leaves the scene, three sets of eyes must rest upon the corpse."
Monorakun stopped and scratched behind his ear with his hind foot, then continued. "At that time, I'll announce the death, call EVERYONE to where the body was found, and an investigation will start. Search the body, gather evidence, gather alibis, that sort of thing. After an undetermined amount of time (or after I get bored), you will all be called to the Courtroom to discuss whodunit, in a roundtable discussion. Any topic goes at any time, so long as it's relevant to the crime."
Monorakun then sat on his haunches. "Now HERE'S the fun part for you all. If you guess the correct Blackened, they get executed, and I'll open a new floor the next morning at 7am. However...if you guess incorrectly, the Blackened gets to go free, and EVERYONE ELSE is executed instead! So point the finger at your own peril, because EVERYONE'S lives are on the line here!"
While everyone else gasped in shock, Celeste spoke up rather quickly. "So this has changed from a place of study, to a zero-sum game of survival. To survive, we must adapt and overcome our obstacles. To fail to do so...is to die. Do I have a proper grasp of the situation, Monorakun?"
Monorakun scurried over to Celeste on all fours, then stopped in front of her, sitting on his haunches. "Yep, that sounds reasonably accurate to me. However, the rest of you can make of it what you will. Food and drink will be provided each morning, so there is no threat of starvation. And, frankly, I don't care how long you all stay here. Two weeks? Two years? Eh, whatever! It's all the same to me!"
Chihiro, meanwhile, had her arms pulled into her chest, and was quietly crying. "But...but I don't want to kill anybody...and I don't want to see anyone die, either! This...this isn't right!"
Celeste chided Chihiro. "Right or wrong, it doesn't really matter. But allow me to give you some friendly advice, Chihiro. If you can't stop yourself from showing weakness, or crying in front of everyone, you will die. And if that happens, you will have only yourself to blame."
Chihiro's eyes went wide with fear, but Kaito quickly came to her defense.
"Shut up! That's just a stupid idea you have in your head. If you want to live in here like this is some game, then whatever, but I won't let you belittle other people here in the process!"
Celeste merely looked back at Kaito, unamused. "Your meaningless words waste my time. There is no point in you taking your anger out on me, Kaito. Adapt and survive...that is all we can do here, is it not so?"
"Don't forget to hit 'I Accept' on the Terms and Conditions! You have 24 hours, and you're not allowed to sleep anywhere except the dorms, which you cannot enter without swiping your E-Handbook!" Monorakun casually mentioned.
Having no choice in the matter, each of us did as Monorakun requested, accepting the Terms and Conditions. Suddenly, something caught the corner of my eye.
Chihiro's attention was focused on her E-Handbook, with a very confused look on her face.
"Ummmm, Monorakun? Why is my Gender glitched in my profile?" Chihiro asked, very nervously.
Curious, I decided to check my own profile, which I found under Settings.
"Bera Haikiko. Ultimate Tailor. Height: 5'3". Weight: 125 lbs. Gender: 未来"
...What the heck is 未来?
I chirped in with Chihiro. "Hey, mine's messed up, too."
Monorakun walked over to the both of us, and asked to see our E-Handbooks. After seeing them both, with both of our Genders being 未来, Monorakun muttered, "You've got to be fucking kidding me..."
After going silent for a few moments, Monorakun spoke up. "Alright, I'll have to do a manual override for both of you tonight. Just stay out of the Pool, because it registers Gender, and if you walk into either Locker Room, the security system will make you "holey", if you get my drift. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!"
Chihiro gulped nervously. I, however, was content to wait another day.
Meanwhile, Mukuro and Sayaka appeared to be having a conversation, with Kaede and Makoto nervously looking on. It did not appear to be friendly, but it didn't look like a catfight was brewing, either.
Sonia and Hifumi were talking amongst themselves. Well, Hifumi was doing most of the talking; Sonia was sitting next to him, her hands on her lap, listening intently to whatever Hifumi was talking about.
Yasuhiro was losing his mind, hollering about needing to get out of here, before bolting out of the Gymnasium. I had no idea where he went off to.
Theo and Kenchikka were having a calm discussion, which between Theo's British accent and Kenchikka's unique dialogue style, made for an interesting-sounding eavesdrop. However, they were mostly discussing Kenchikka's condition.
Chiaki was playing her Gamegirl DR, seemingly oblivious to the outside world, while Kaito tried to calm down a still-trembling Chihiro.
Leon, meanwhile, was trying to talk up Celeste and Angie, and having mixed results with Celeste. She seemed polite, but disinterested in whatever he was talking about. Angie, however, seemed completely unfazed by the situation, saying something about Atua.
Theo finally spoke up. "Hey! Everybody! No matter how confused or upset you are, we must all be cautious. Cautious of Monorakun, and cautious of..." He took a deep breath. "Ourselves. Being brought to this school with complete strangers, and being told to kill someone to escape with our own lives...That creates fear in our minds, and that desire to escape that fear will end up being our own worst enemy."
Theo took a few sideways steps towards the exit, still facing us. "However, it's impossible to face Monorakun alone, so we must combat him and this scheme as a group. I suggest we group up, search every room, corridor, and even our own dorms for any clues that could help us."
Celeste, however, snickered lightheartedly to herself. "I am certain that everything has been planned down to the last detail. I fear this is not the work of your friendly neighborhood psychopath. That said, to sit and do nothing...is to wait for death to arrive. I support your move, for now."
Leon spoke up next. "Yeah, you're right. I'm not even afraid anymore. Now, I'm just pissed off. Why is this happening to all of us? What did we do to deserve this?"
Kenchikka nodded as well. "Agreed. No sense sitting here, do nothing. May as well look around. Who knows, might be something fun to do while trapped here. However, not holding breath."
Kaito cheered. "That's right! We can't win by running away! If we can't face this danger, there's no way we can defeat Monorakun and escape from here!"
So it was decided. We would search the areas we could for any clues we could find, and take note of any activities we could do while we were here. However, Yasuhiro still wasn't back, having gone off the deep end and running off from the rest of us, so we decided to go in groups of threes.
So the question I had to ask myself was: Who should I go with?