Chapter Text
Everyone who heard the announcement gathered at Monokuma Rock. The ocean breeze felt wrong. Too calm. Too normal. Monokuma appeared soon after, grinning like he always did — loud, omniscient, and drunk on despair.
“Is everybody heeere!? Do you guys wanna go to the class triaaaal!?”
Before anyone could respond, Monophanie dropped in front of him, arms spread wide.
“Hey, jerk!! Hold it right there!!”
They began bickering like they always did. Monokuma's face stiffened. "what? don't get in my way, you're just a dumb little sister who's short a few brain cells." Monophanie just looked offended "My brain works just fine!!"
Hajime barely registered it anymore. It was noise, background static to something worse.
He avoided looking at Monokuma "Avoided looking at Monophanie. Avoided looking at the others.
One of them had killed two people.
Monophanie raised her voice. “Monokuma. Where is Coach Nekomaru?!”
The name lodged in Hajime’s throat.
Nekomaru.
Monokuma just turned his back on the Hajime and the rest "I see.. so you've come to avenge him." Monophanie merely looked panicked "avenge?! that sounds like he died!!"
"sounds like you say.. oops"
Kazuichi stepped back. “H-hey… did you hear what she said?” Fuyuhiko shoved his hands in his pockets, jaw tight. “Don’t worry about it. There’s no way he’s dead. That bear’s just trying to piss us off.” Akane’s shoulders were tense, sweat visible on her brow. “Yeah. There’s no way. Not in a million years.”
Nagito smiled.
It wasn’t joy at death. It was something stranger — fascination.
“More importantly,” he said softly, almost pleasantly, “we should be worried about ourselves. If something happens here… every one of us except Nekomaru will die.”
He lifted his hands slightly, like he was presenting the idea to the sky.
Mikan flinched. “W-why would you be excited about that?!”
Hajime didn’t know. After the despair disease, after everything Mikan had done to heal them, hearing Nagito sound almost delighted made his stomach twist.
Gundham folded his arms, scarf shifting in the wind. “What are you saying, fiend?”
Before the tension could snap, Chiaki spoke.
“Then let’s go.”
Simple. Flat. Decisive.
Monokuma Rock roared, splitting open as the escalator forced its way out of its mouth.
The class trial awaited.
Hajime stepped forward, then stopped.
Sixteen.
They had started with sixteen.
Now there were nine.
Their shadows stretched across the sand, thinner than before.
“Hajime?” Sonia asked gently.
“I-if you need a break in the elevator, I can treat you…” Mikan added, fidgeting.
“You alright, man?” Kazuichi asked.
Nagito stepped beside him, staring at the shadows. “It’s the despair of dwindling hope, isn’t it Hajime? You’re counting what’s missing.”
Hajime forced a nod. “I’m fine.”
They entered the elevator one by one.
The doors shut.
It descended.
No one spoke.
-------
it stopped
The jolt threw them off balance.
Mikan stumbled. Chiaki steadied herself against the wall. Nagito simply adjusted his posture, unreadable.
Hajime’s heart pounded.
Why have we stopped?
They weren’t at the trial grounds.
They weren’t anywhere.
Kazuichi braced himself against the wall, then recoiled violently.
“D-dudes,” he stammered, backing away. “The walls… I swear they’re breathing!!”
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Fuyuhiko snapped.
“I’m not joking!!, check if you don't trust me!!”
Chiaki stepped forward without hesitation and placed her palm against the wall.
Silence.
Then—
Thump.
She pulled her hand back slowly.
“He’s right,” she said. “They’re breathing.”
Kazuichi clutched his beanie. “S-SEE?! Something’s wrong!”
A monitor flickered to life in the upper corner of the elevator.
Static.
Then Monokuma appeared, lounging with a drink in hand.
“Puhuhuhu!! Looks like we’re having some technical difficulties! Not to worry, sit tight!”
Fuyuhiko clenched his fists.
Akane cracked her knuckles.
Nagito watched with unsettling interest.
Monokuma reappeared on screen.
“Well, well, looks like we’ve got a new—”
The glass slipped from his hand.
His red eye pulsed violently. The black half of his face twisted as if in pain.
Monokuma convulsed.
For the first time since this nightmare began—
Monokuma was suffering.
“W-what’s happening to him?!” Mikan cried.
“This isn’t his doing…” Gundham murmured, voice lower than before.
The screen warped.
The elevator trembled. Monokuma-
"GAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
Black.
Complete and suffocating.
The walls continued their slow, rhythmic breathing.
Seconds stretched.
Then an iris appeared on the screen. Submerged in purplish blue static
Closed.
Watching.
It opened.
-----------
“Mmmm… now what’s this?”
The voice was calm. Curious.
“Do I feel something squirming its beneath my skin? Invasive foreign little germs…”
Kazuichi trembled.
Mikan looked seconds from tears.
Akane and Fuyuhiko positioned themselves forward, ready to strike.
Hajime couldn’t move.
“ahh.. Finally… I see.
"you..."
"It is about time we made our acquaintance.”
The iris pulsed faintly.
“Well, little germs…
Then slowly contorted into two, then three, then twelve.
let’s make a game of all of you.”
Silence filled the elevator.
Gundham’s bravado faltered as he felt movement in his scarf. His hamsters were trembling.
Akane stepped forward. “I’m tearing that screen apart!”
“Yeah,” Fuyuhiko growled. “I’m with her.”
They lunged.
The elevator shook violently.
Everyone was thrown to the ground.
Sonia caught herself against the wall. Mikan hit the floor with a cry. Hajime landed hard, palms flat against the cold metal.
The iris glowed above them, the only light left.
“You’ve blundered your ways along the shadows above, and managed to squirm your way down here again, and again, and again, but by the barest skin of your teeth. there are no shadows here that would be of use to you."
The floor shuddered beneath them all.
“not even the ground beneath your feet is yours.”
Another violent shake.
“There are no places you can hide.”
The screen went black.
"not...from....me"
The breathing stopped.
Silence...
And then
The elevator dropped.
Everyone screamed.