Chapter Text
Kaede let out a long sigh as she rose from her slumber, she looked around her room and confirmed that what happened yesterday was, in fact not just a bad dream born from staying up too late practising for a concert.
DING DONG BING BONG
The Warriors of Hope appeared on the monitor in her room, sitting together on a couch.
“Hey, you bastards! It’s 8 AM now! Get up and go get breakfast or our Exisals will rip you to shreds!” Masaru yelled.
“There’s no actual rule against not eating, but did you know that not eating for weeks on end has many weight loss benefits?” Kotoko turned her head.
Masaru pouted. “No fair, you’re not meant to tell them when I’m being blatantly wrong,”
“We literally are,” Nagisa deadpanned. “Please ignore most of what Masaru says, everyone,”
“Hey-”
“Have a good day everyone!” Monaca smiled into the camera, a complete lack of light in her soulless, green eyes.
“Uh, yeah right!” Masaru gave a thumbs up. “Get killing soon!”
The monitor shut off.
Kaede looked both frustrated and confused at the Teacher’s antics… any further thoughts were interrupted by her stomach grumbling. She decided to head down to the Dining Hall.
Kaede didn’t encounter anyone her way there, as it turns out literally everyone had the same idea to head to the Dining Hall at the same time.
Most of the people were calmly eating, some were doing other things though: Angie was praying, Tenko was fawning over Himiko’s existence, Kokichi was talking to (bullying) Keebo in a corner. Everyone seemed to have something to do!
“Kaede, you’re finally here!” Kaito smiled widely as the Pianist looked around.
Kaede chuckled. “Well, I kinda have to eat, y’know?”
“I know that, but that means that everyone’s in the Dining Hall now,”
“Ah, yeah,” Shuichi spoke up as he walked next to Kaede. “I uh… only just noticed that,”
“Only now?” Kokichi turned his head curiously. “For the Ultimate Detective you sure aren’t very observant,”
“A-Ah, sorry…”
“Kokichi!” Kaede scolded. “Shuichi you don’t need to apologise,”
Kirumi sighed. “Please behave yourself, Oma,”
“Ooooooo, you’re calling me by my last name! That means you hate me!” Kokichi suddenly began to violently cry. “WAHHHHHHHHHHH, KIRUMI HATES ME!”
Everyone ignored the Supreme Leader as he basically instantly stopped crying.
“So, now that everyone’s here, I guess we can discuss the events from yesterday,” Rantaro said, a calm smile still on his face as he put his hands on the table in front of him.
“Yes, yes!” Angie smiled widely. “There’s much to discuss!”
“Nyehhhh… talking is a pain…” Himiko complained.
Tenko patted the witch on the shoulders. “Don’t worry Himiko, just wh-whisper in my ears and I’ll tell them what you wanna say!” She drooled a little, which Himiko noticed and seemed to be just a bit uncomfortable about.
“What’s there to talk about? We already know none of us are gonna fall for this Killing Game shit,” Kaito said.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure…” Kokichi smirked. “I mean, we’re all pretty on edge, aren’t we?”
“Well-” Tsumugi mumbled.
“What are you getting at, Kokichi?” Kirumi quirked an eyebrow.
Kokichi’s face went back to that of a child’s. “Getting at? I’m not getting at anything, just stating what’s obvious,”
The Dining Hall quickly fell silent.
“He’s got a point,” Ryoma broke the silence. “It’s not like we know each other very well, I personally don’t got much out there to kill for, but if someone else here does then…” The former Tennis Pro trailed off.
“Then what?” Kaede interrupted. “Are we all just gonna give up and kill each other, because some stupid bear told us to?”
The group stared at Kaede most looked confused, while a few looked at the woman with admiration.
“Ugh… I’m not great at speeches, admittedly, if it were up to me I’d be playing an inspiring song for us all. March of the Valkyries would do wonders for all of our spirits!” Kaede proudly declared. “But besides that, fragmenting off, and letting ourselves start to mistrust each other is only going to lead to us doing what Monokuma wants!”
“I guess that’s plain to see…” Tsumugi mumbled.
“Took the words right outta my mouth,” Kaito chuckled.
“No she didn’t,” Maki chided the Astronaut, who sweated and chuckled uncomfortably in response. “Still, I guess it did instill a bit of hope in me…”
“Weeelll, I guess it’s better to work together… for now, nishishi!” Kokichi chuckled.
“I agree, and so does Himiko!” Tenko shouted.
“I didn’t even say anything, but I guess so…”
“Nyahahaha, what a divine hope that has filled us,” Angie held her hands together in prayer. “I wish for Atua’s luck to rain upon all of us!”
“I guess you gotta make up for that flat chest somehow…” Miu mumbled, Kaede elected to take that as a compliment.
“Gonta do his best to help us escape!”
Rantaro walked up to the Pianist with the same calm smile still on his face. “For someone who’s said they aren’t good at speeches, you’ve sure managed to rile us up,”
Kaede smiled. “I’m glad, we need to work together to escape this place,”
“Th-That’s right!” Shuichi adjusted his hat to look Kaede in the eyes. “We’ll need to find something soon,”
“That’s right, Shuichi,” Kaede nodded. “I can feel everyone’s heart beating together as one, as long as we work together, we’ll have no problem getting out of this Killing Game!”
“Ah… cooperation, the thing that’s let humanity survive this long…” Korekiyo whispered. “So beautiful!”
“You have a distinctly creepy way of saying it, but I like your attitude!” Kaede smiled, Korekiyo probably did too under that mask.
“Kehehe, I’m glad to be apart of this cooperation, it’ll be so interesting to watch…”
“I’ll do my best to help!” Keebo declared.
Kokichi looked at his hand. “And it’ll still not be enough,”
“Hey!”
Kaede shook away the urge to scold Kokichi, and cleared her throat. “Well, if no one has any objections, then I guess we’ll start working on-”
“I have one,” Maki said, menacing yet monotone as ever. “We have no starting point,”
“A-Ah, well-”
“Actually Gonta think he find something that could be exit,” The large man spoke up. “Gonta go to back of school last night looking for bugs, but only find manhole cover instead. Maybe it’s way out?”
“That’s… actually very smart of you Gonta!” Tsumugi smiled.
Kaede smiled. “Yeah Gonta, we should head there. It’s our best bet for escaping this place!”
“Aww, it nothing everyperson, Gonta just being gentleman!”
“It would’ve been gentlemanly to mention it beforehand,” Maki muttered under her breath.
Kokichi gave Maki a quick smirk and then turned his head to Gonta. “It is kinda weird that you didn’t mention it before, but that sounds like a super fun idea!”
“Well, what are we waitin’ for?” Kaito clapped his hands. “Let’s get going!”
And so all sixteen students headed out into the courtyard, and towards the back of the school into a small, open area.
Gonta lead the students to the middle, and showed them the manhole cover.
“Here it is, now how do we open it?” Kaede looked deep in thought.
“Ooooo, Kee-boy should use a super robo rocket kick or something to kick it open!” Kokichi went wide eyed at the robot.
“He can do that?” Tsumugi looked equally fangirly.
Keebo shrugged awkwardly. “Actually… I don’t have that function, Professor Ibadashi only gave me the strength of an above average elderly person,”
“Really?” Kokichi looked dissappointed. “Keebo, why are you always so lame?”
“I’ll have you know that I have studied over 100 years worth of entertainment! It’s scientifically impossible for me to be lame!”
It would’ve probably been easier to just… watch any TV Show, or movie, or… anything.
Ignoring those thoughts, Kaede continued to ponder at the Manhole cover until.
“Up you go!” Gonta said casually as he lifted the 200 pound manhole cover, holding it between two fingers like a frisbee.
“Jeez, that’s some strength you got there, big guy!” Kaito chuckled.
“Thanks Kaito!”
“Where do you plan to put that, Gonta?” Kirumi asked.
Gonta shrugged. “Gonta put it over there,” He said as he tossed the easily 100 kilogram metal frisbee at a wall, it flew a good 10 metres before it hit the floor.
“Grrr… degenerate males always being so careless!” Tenko complained.
“Gonta, please be more careful with that sort of thing,”
Gonta looked down sadly. “Gonta sorry,”
“Don’t worry about it for now!” Kaede patted the big guy on the back. “Let’s head down this manhole cover, check for an exit!”
“Yes ma’am!” Kokichi sarcastically saluted as he climbed down, the rest of the gang quickly followed suit.
The manhole led to a pretty dreary room, cramped and nearly featureless except for a large tunnel at one end, and a sign pointing to it that said
EXIT
“Well that’s convenient,” Kokichi chuckled.
“Almost a little too convenient,” Ryoma said.
Maki, ever the pessimist chimed in too. “Yeah, it’s a wonder that Monokuma hasn’t interrupted us yet, this seems to easy,”
“Are you saying that this is a trap?” Kirumi asked.
“Kehehe, it would be quite malicious of our captors,” Korekiyo whispered. “Get our hopes up to maximise our despair,”
“Hey,” Kaede called out. “Don’t let Monokuma get to you, I’m sure we found this on our own. We’re gonna use this to get out of here, and then… I think we should all remain friends,”
“Friends…?” Maki quirked an eyebrow.
“Well, yeah; we don’t know each other very well, but we’ve been through a lot together,” Kaede smiled brightly. “So I think when we get out of here, we should all be friends!”
“Nyahaha, what a divine idea Kaede!” Angie somehow beamed brighter than the Pianist. “And then you can give me that pint of your blood once your anemia clears up!”
“Um… that’s not how anemia works,” Tsumugi said.
Kaito spoke up. “That sounds like a great idea, Kaede, now gimme a hug!”
“Wha?”
“What, we’re friends,” Kaito chuckled uncomfortably.
“Classic degenerate male,” Tenko made a weird face, the offense/confusion one again. “Trying to get a woman to press her breasts up to you,”
“Wh-Wha no, it’s not like that at all!” Kaito waved his hands around.
“You say that like you were thinking about it…” Himiko mumbled.
“Wha-Wha-What? N-No, it’s not like that at all!” Tenko waved her hands around in the exact same manner as Kaito.
Shuichi tapped Kaede on the shoulder, the Pianist turned around to look at her friend.
“I like the idea of staying friends once this is over,”
“Thanks Shuichi, that’s why I came up with it!” Kaede smiled.
Tsumugi walked near the Pianist too. “I’d also wanna be your friend, by the way… if you want that,”
“Of course, everyone means everyone!”
“Well, I guess that settles it,” Kirumi said. “We should head in,”
“We’ll have each other’s backs!” Kaede declared brightly.
“I’ll do my best!” Keebo smiled.
Kokichi smiled back. “This is the only time I actually believe that!”
“I could totally invent a way outta this, but taking the scenic route’s prolly more fun or some shit,” Miu shrugged.
“Hopefully this works,” Rantaro said.
That was that, the sixteen Ultimate students entered the tunnel into the Death Road of Despair together as a unit.
…
If only they knew the tragedy that would befall them next.
The Death Road of Despair was a distinctly painful, cruel trap designed to wear down the hope of the Ultimate students.
The weakest members had to leave first, covered in scratches, scrapes and bruises, and already tired from the traps that lay within.
The stronger students soon fell one by one, passing out from sheer exhaustion and pain from the tunnel, but worst of all was the fact that no matter how far they went; they still felt no closer to an exit, no indication of progress. It was torture.
Kaede felt herself pass out…
…
“Ugh… wh-what happened?” Kaede mumbled as she woke from her slumber, limbs still sore from her attempted escape, she looked around the room.
Each and every student, once bright eyed and confident were sitting around in utter despair and exhaustion: wincing, stumbling, and on the verge of tears.
“Oh h-hey, you finally woke up,” Shuichi mumbled as he wearily helped Kaede to her feet.
“Wh-What happened?”
“Your plan failed, that’s what happened,” Maki said.
“Or perhaps we’ve fallen into Monokuma’s trap… get our hopes up about an exit, and then…” Korekiyo chuckled.
“How… horrible,” Tsumugi groaned as she laid down on the floor.
“B-B-Bingo!” The group heard the grating voice of the bear as it appeared in front of them, alongside the Warriors of Hope.
“You totally fell for our totally awesome trap!” Masaru shouted.
“Too many totallies,” Kotoko criticised. “But yeah, this entire thing was a trap,”
“I made the traps, if you need another reason to hate me…” Jataro smiled.
“I was surprised you fell for this stuff,” Nagisa chided. “I expected more of them,”
“As did I, puhuhu,” Monokuma laughed before he and his teachers left the room.
“Th-This whole escape route was a trap?” Kaede mumbled.
“Gonta get tricked?”
Kokichi stood up with a surprising amount of energy. “It’d make sense, the people running this game wouldn’t let us just end the fun so easily?”
“What are you *khh* getting at you degenerate?” Tenko shouted as she winced.
“Nyehhh… pain… agony, even…”
“Don’t worry Himiko! I’ll get you healed up soon!”
“Mwehh…”
“Nyahahaha, I am in untold agony!” Angie said, still somehow smiling.
Kaede’s knees buckled a little as she stood up. “C-C’mon guys, we need to try again soon. We can’t-”
“Didn’t you heard Monokuma? That thing’s a trap,” Kokichi turned his head. “And you completely and utterly fell for it,”
“K-Kokichi…” Shuichi mumbled, extremely out of breath.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Kokichi let out a breathy chuckle. “If you wanna go in there, you can go ahead, but you can’t force the rest of us to go along!”
“H-Huh?”
“I agree, I’m gonna be going to my dorm,” Maki sighed. “Thanks for wasting my time, Kaede,”
“I wanna take a nap, Tenko carry me…”
“Kyah! Of course Himiko!” Tenko beamed.
“Count me out,” Ryoma said.
“If everyone else is leaving then I shall too, sorry Kaede,” Kirumi made a small bow.
Kaito looked around the room, tired anger clear on his face. “You’re all giving up that easily?”
“You call it whatever you want, we are not going through that again,” Maki said, conviction clear in her voice.
“I-I need my beauty sleep anyway, so I don’t end up lookin’ as bad as Cowtits,” Miu weakly laughed.
Kaede’s fists clenched in anger, she wanted to say something back but… let it go, she let out a frustrated sigh as one by one the majority of the students left the area. The only remaining students within the room were Kaede, Shuichi, Kaito, Tsumugi, Rantaro and Gonta.
“Cowards…” Kaito mumbled under his breath.
“Gonta sorry for leading everyone to dead end…” The large man looked down like a child being scolded, poor guy.
“I-It’s nothing, d-don’t worry,” Kaede mumbled.
Tsumugi patted Kaede on the back, equally as tired as her. “D-Don’t beat yourself up Kaede, it’s plain to see that you tried your best,”
“Yeah,” Rantaro nodded calmly. “Only a couple of them are mad at you, most are just mad that the escape didn’t work,”
“Doesn’t make it right to take it out on Kaede!” Kaito shouted.
“Y-Yeah, sorry about what everyone said, Kaede,”
“Y-You don’t have to apologise, I messed up by getting everyone’s hopes up…”
“Don’t say that, man,” Kaito patted the Pianist on the back. “You were only doing what you thought was good for the group, there’s no shame in that,”
Kaede looked up at the man and smiled. “Thanks…”
“You’re welcome,” Kaito said as he yawned. “We should probably all hit the hay now, we’ll work together better if we’re well rested,”
“Gonta agree!”
“I’m just plain exhausted,” Tsumugi sighed. “Gonta, can you carry me?”
“Gonta is glad to!” He smiled as he picked up the woman and climbed up the ladder.
The rest of the group climb out of the room, Kaede looked up into the night sky, pitch black and filled with pretty stars.
“Jeez, I kept you guys down there for pretty long, huh?” Kaede said as she turned to Shuichi, who she was leaning on for support. “Thanks for helping me up by the way, you’re pretty handy when it counts, Shuichi,”
“A-Ah, it’s nothing Kaede,” Shuichi sighed.
“Shuichi, it’s really helpful of you,” The woman chuckled. “Don’t discount yourself, okay?”
“I-I’m sorry,”
“And don’t apologise for stuff that isn’t your fault either, ugh,” Kaede rolled her eyes as she was lead back to her dorms.
Kaede collapsed onto her bed the instant she entered the room, not even bothering to lock the door.
Tomorrow was another day.