Forum Thread

Niwa Atsushi

Amano had broken right away. Niwa knew that the general opinion was that he'd broken from care for the deceased. But he had to question that. Was it true? Was Amano really the kind who would care for others so effectively? Was it possibly the loss of control that had gotten to him instead?

Niwa trusted in his ability to understand people.

And Amano was one of the worst ones he had ever met.

---

Hisoka was in that number as well. Cold, calculating, that vicious smirk. He lead them all, Niwa knew. The one who brought the cold attitude into the hearts of the other Ultimates.

Niwa didn't think he cared for him much more than Amano. Especially now that he knew him better.

---

Suko, too, was disgusting. Their heart hung out of their chest, frozen to the dangling tendons. Their mocking laughs and scornful banter was pitiful. They would never shut up about their gun or their precious Femi who they practically shook to death. Another example of someone who Niwa wouldn't mind being a victim in this game.

---

Suzume cared for others. But not for people. Her face would twist in that horrible attempt at emotion as she tried to comfort people whom she couldn't empathize with. Kind, but empty. Niwa didn't know how to feel about her. He decided on disgust.

---

Femi, Niwa felt bad for. He didn't ask for any of this. He was shy, nervous, erratic... Niwa felt more of an urge to protect him if anything. He truly was hurt by all of this...

---

Kowai set his teeth on edge. Creep. He hated her more than even Amano or Hisoka.

---

Redmonda was a manipulative liar, and yet she could show the truth of them all. Just how horrid the people around Niwa were. He finally felt his isolation as one of the few decents with her sacrifice.

Sacrifice.

God, he made himself sick sometimes.

---

Keiki... No, Niwa loved Keiki. He was certain of it now. Keiki may not feel the same way, but he was certain that Keiki was good. Keiki was okay. Niwa- Niwa didn't know but he wanted Keiki out of this. He wanted to leave this school with the joy of someone by his side.

But that couldn't happen.

No, that couldn't happen...

...

A sob awoke him from his thoughts. "Keiki...?" Another sob. "...Keiki?"

---

Replies, or perishies

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Keiki Meyumi.

Not another nightmare- frick. Niwa's going to think that I'm a big blubbering baby-... Keiki thought miserably.

Another nightmare, huh. How many is that now? The umpteenth?

Keiki, you're a mess. A sad, sad mess. Get yourself together.

Keiki pulled a pillow over their head.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep."

"You heard nothing. It was the ghosts in the walls. They're crying, not me. Hmph."

"The ghosts'll eat you if you don't go back to bed, tomato-face."

Keiki rubbed their tears away.

Niwa Atsushi

"Ghosts?" Niwa considered it for a moment. He was largely immune to forms of supernatural beasts. Sometimes, an eerie night might let a shiver go up his spine. Right now, though..

"Will you protect your adorable tomato face from them?" He widened his eyes. "He's a scaredy cat, unlike the strong, brave Keiki." He giggled under his breath. Keiki was so cute. He wanted to protect them from night terrors. The only good person here... As that, Keiki deserved to not be scared sometimes, at least.

---

Suzume Fujimori’s POV

”...” Suzume, as she helped carry Femi, had her eyes find themselves traveling, not in the direction of where Megami had gone, but strangely, to Niwa. She had never paid much attention to him before. But… there was a look on that boy’s face…

She wasn’t quite sure what registered there. What kind of person was he? What kind of things did he know?

She shook away the thought. No, nothing, right? Perhaps, just a random feeling of unease. But it seemed like, for a moment there, that he could see right through me. Like I was a string of testing results upon a page…

But her logic was rarely random…

Kowai Kurai’s POV

Kowai observed the atmosphere. Everyone was noticeably ever-more crushed, ever-more quiet. Filing off to their own things, praying they wouldn’t be the next victim. Picking up the pieces…

Pawns. All a bunch of pawns, to play out a game, wasn’t that what they all were?

And everyone would go up in flames if they didn’t reach the other side of the board. Become a more important piece of the puzzle. Someone who can’t be killed easily.

Her eyes scanned everyone, like a pair of binoculars. They weren’t even trying to play optimists now, none of them were. The atmosphere… grew more and more dead with every head that rolled.

Chop, chop, chop. And who would be gone next?...

”Well, come on! You all coming?” How unlike Hisoka to ask such a thing. He seemed… different now. A smile, like the cutting blade of a knife, carved its way into Kowai’s face. She was smiling, smiling.

E̵̢̬͎̮̍v̸̹̻̜̠̝͊̑͜ͅe̸͖͖̯̾͆̈́͆͆̾̃̐͘r̵͎͖̟̞͇̦̈́͋̿̅y̷͈̻̬̘̬̏͆ó̵̹͇̇̓̒n̵̡͙̗͕̑͌͋ę̴̢̰͙̘̫͇̻̒͗̑̍̀̇̀͛̕ ̸̧̛͍̰̬̞̱̝̼̖͋͗͒̐͂̓̇͑͠w̶̡̧̩̖̞̗͓͎͔̄̄ǫ̸̧̱̥͓̮͇̝͚̤͑ư̷̧̧̙̻͙͈̬̟͌̇̇̽̄͛̀̕l̸̛̝̥͍̬̹̬̼̫͊̒͗ḏ̵͕͎̦͙͊͑́̓͑͘͠ ̴̡̦̺͓͕̥͙͛̃̆̈́͜b̵̠̐̈̎̔̍ë̷̡̫̥̜͔̳̭͕͓́̌̆ ̷̢̡̻͉͈͓̞̤͚͛͠ş̴̠̤̮̃m̷̢̢̨̖͈̜̤̩̘̓́̀̈̎̉̚͜͠į̴͈̰̬̺̪͉͙̝̇̆͌̈́ͅl̵̡͈̣̬͉̙͎̲̗̿͐͠ͅì̶͇̾̀̋͠n̸̻͕̹̦͈̠͒̀̅̄g̸͖̖͉͕͚̦̜̳̑̓̅̆̈́̈́̈́̿̈́͠.̵̘̮̦̟͚̱̞̦̽

"Coming!" she chirped at last, ending her eerie silence.

Kowai ducked out of the room with Hisoka. They had much to discuss together… later.

Femi Davis’s POV

[Femi Davis was in need of a lot of medical attention and his point-of-view could not be obtained at this time due to him being stuck in a state of dying unconsciousness. Someone please let us time-skip to when he gets medical attention so he can get screentime. Pls.]

---

Title: Budget form, couldn't afford BBCode

Megami:
Once we got to the nurses station, I started lowering my half onto the stretcher. My eyes drifted to the antibiotics, noting them mentally just in case.

Suko Nobu

With a shove, Femi finally rolled onto the table. Suko fell into a chair, hand flying up to muffle a cough surging in their throat. The ever-present agony in their throat grew stronger when they exerted themself. Carrying their massive beast of a boyfriend probably counted as-

They briefly paused.

Boyfriend?

Well, that was messed up.

They drummed their fingers on the arm of the chair. "So, uh, runaway girl and sciencer. Do you have, like, medical knowledge? To treat 'em?" They kept their eyes fixed on Femi.

My entire body wants to disintegrate into bloody mush- squish squish, oh god-

"Cause I sure as frick know nothing-" lies- "Ultimate Gunman, right? I dunno what you two got, but it's probably better than that."

---

"I'm a cryptologist, but I know basic bandaging."

Suko Nobu

"Bandaging, whoop whoop, whoopee! I could've told you that." Wait wait, hold up, that was mean- "I mean uh- like, sorry and stuff. Didn't mean to hurtcher feelings. Just didn't think."

Their throat practically ached now. They hunched their shoulders, hoping that more attention wouldn't be drawn to themself.

---

Suzume Fujimori's POV

Suzume sighed. "I do know... some things. First thing we should do is observe the damage, stop the bleeding, if he's still bleeding. Apply ointments and disinfectants if we have any... and of course, bandage his wounds. There's something else I think needs to be attended to. No one saw Femi on the first day, right? I'm guessing he's also starving, and severely dehydrated."

She bit her nails. This was problematic...

---

Suko Nobu

Good. You do that.

Suko brought their hand up to their mouth. Why was this happening now? Couldn't it have been a day earlier? Two, even? Why today? This was so stupid, oh gods. They hated this so much.

Not nearly as bad as Femi, though, right?

They bit their lip, feeling inferior. Stupid, stupid. Just stay flighty, okay? Protect people or whatever, just stay happy.

---

All Around the School

Dingdong, dingdong! The screens snapped on, light filling every dark hollow of the school. Monokuma was relaxing by the beach in a bikini. His sunglassed eyes peered at PlayBear magazines. Finally, he glanced up. His sunglasses slipped off his face.

"Ahhh! My students! I didn't- I didn't realize you were here!" He hurriedly shuffled the magazines behind a hot pink beach bag. "Well! Hello! I've been thinking lately that you deserve a vacation of sorts. You stupid brats have been playing so well for me! Puhuhuhuuhuhuu~ After tonight, we're all going to enjoy a lovely vacation on the third floor, like your beloved teacher and idol, Monokuma!" The bear vanished, then popped up directly in front of the camera. "So get anything you'd like done finished right now~ We're onto the despairful field trip tomorrow!"

The bear gave a salute. "Toodles, kiddins~ Bear well! Please, feel free to murder whenever you like. Puhuhuhuhuu~" And then the screen shut off.

---

Niwa Atsushi

"Oh..." he trailed off. "We're going to be following that maniac's orders again tomorrow, I guess." Maybe Keiki would enjoy that. "Anything you've needed to do here? Presumably, light's out has been cancelled. We probably could check out the Ultimate Labs..."

---

Amano Tetsuo

Water rose and crashed, battering the tiny village on which Amano perched. He watched as screaming children were washed away. Grim teenagers thrust into rocks, blood pooling in the water. Panicked adults begging gods above for mercy, were met with nothing but ceaseless agony as they were thrust out to sea and drowned.

He blinked.

People usually drowned in a few minutes, right?

But the heavy, empty feeling in his heart told him that these waves were special. Waves of despair, you might call them...

"Despair, despair..."

Hmm...

He thought he heard something. No, he didn't hear anything. Just the silent flow of water.

And Nagisa's screams.

Whiplash struck him like a hammer as he spun to face her. The water had turned into an enormous monster- it was crawling up her throat, entangling around it, pooling in her mouth, striking her face blue-

He reached for her.

Her dead eyes glared right back at him as she fell under.

You did this to us.

That was Chika's voice, corrupted by a strange gurgle. She was behind him, he knew. He had heard her footsteps ever since she'd entered the room.

He felt a strange relief.

Then he saw Chika in the water, pink whips lashing upwards as she sunk. He wondered how she'd moved so quickly.

Akihiro was next, right?

Akihiro was next and then Redmonda, and then-

He stiffened.

The water had taken him.

Me.

And then something bashed into the side of his head and he fell into the murky depths of the water.

---

Title: Budget form, couldn't afford BBCode

Buraddo:
I walked to the library, grabbing a fantasy book off the shelf. The Witch Boy, sounds intriguing.

Third Person POV

The doors to the library creaked open. Suko stepped through, and shut the door behind themself. They heaved a sigh. They turned around, and- their eyes narrowed as they landed on Megami.

"Oh. Hello." They brushed by her, heading for the bookcases. "Sorry. Do you know where medical stuff is?" They glanced at her, and promptly tripped over a stray stack of books.

---

Keiki Meyumi.

"Wha- oh. Ultimate Labs-? Sure...I guess."

Keiki rubbed their face of tears.

"D'you- d'you think the school contains any...hmm.." They trailed off.

Niwa Atsushi

"Any what?" Niwa prompted softly. Keiki looked so fragile right now... All of a sudden, his faith in the goodness of Keiki was shaken. Were they really... okay? Would they be happier dead?

Niwa started trembling.

"Don't answer that. Let's just... go."

---

Megami:

While Buraddo was in the fantasy section, I was skimming the mangas. Every self-respecting nerd knows that the Manga Section is the gayest part of a library. Well, it might be tied with the YA Romance Section. "Oh, hey Su- ouch." I extended a hand.

Third Person POV

Suko regarded Megami for a second. Then they grinned and took her hand. The instant they were on their feet, they bounced away from her on the balls of their feet. They nearly fell again, but caught themself on a bookshelf.

"Thanks!" they chirped. They tilted their head at her selection of books. "Whatcha looking for? Looks more... fictiony. Ooh!" They perked up. "Actual reading material? I hate reading!" Suko clapped their hands together excitedly. "What do you have there?"

---

"This one is called Nimona, it's about a shapeshifter who works for a gay villain. Then there's The Witch Boy and its sequels, which it looks like Buraddo found a regular book version of. Finally, there are these two, Lumberjanes and Kiss Number 8. Both of them are lesbian love stories. While I do believe that regular books are better, since you can interpret things as wild as you want, I have much better luck finding engaging stories in this section."

Third Person POV

Suko blinked, then grinned broadly. "Ooh! Queer books, eh?" They peered at them over Megami's shoulder. "That''s some nice taste you got there. I wonder if Femi would like 'em~?"

The door opened. Suko glanced over. Hisoka stood with hooded eyes in the entranceway. "Oh hello!" Suko waved.

Hisoka didn't seem to see them. He strode past the two, heading for an aisle two down from theirs.

Suko fake-shuddered. "Brr. That guy's scary. Really seems to know his way in the library." They perked up a bit."Like you! You both have total nerd vibes. I love it." They laughed loudly. "Dorkies~ You should come pick up Femi and form a nerd's club. You all have vision problems." They tapped the side of their head. "I can tell. I've got an eye for things like this, and I see that you should all embrace your inherit nerdiness."

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