Danganronpa: Digital Daze

I looked around the Gymnasium to see who was pairing up with who. Sayaka had left Kaede to speak to Makoto, and Mukuro approached the both of them, so it seemed they had trioed up.

Hifumi and Sonia were speaking, and Kenchikka had requested to join them, which Sonia accepted.

Theo, Angie, and Celeste were together; meanwhile, Leon was pestering Kaede, who seemed flustered until Kaito stepped up to cool Leon's jets.

Yasuhiro was still...somewhere.

That left me, Chihiro (the girl Celeste threatened), and Chiaki (the girl I woke up in here with). To my surprise, it was Chiaki who approached Chihiro, then me, asking to party up.

Afterwards, Chiaki had us wait outside the Girls Locker Room, while she went inside alone. Chihiro seemed too nervous to say much to me, but I didn't really have anything to talk about, either. After waiting for several minutes, Chiaki returned, Gamegirl DR in hand.

"There is a Locker Room, then a pool on the other side. One side is labeled 3 feet deep, and the other is labeled 10 feet deep. There's also a Life Guard Chair in the middle, but it's empty. Swim at your own risk, it seems."

Chihiro gulped, his eyes wide with fear. "But working together is super important! Of course, I dunno how I can be useful...I'll probably just weigh you all down." Chihiro's eyes stared at the floor, dejected.

I patted Chihiro's shoulder gently. "Nah, I'm sure you will be very useful to us, Chihiro. Don't worry so much, ok?"

Chihiro nodded sadly. "It's okay, Bera. You don't have to try and make me feel better."

Chiaki, meanwhile, had already walked off from us, and was nearly out the Gymnasium door, her head down. I guessed she was playing something on her GameGirl DR.

Chihiro and I hurried to catch up with her, and we made a right, then a quick left as we left the Gymnasium. On our right, there was a door, then a set of double doors, then another door.

We opened the first door on our right, and before us was an Art Room. Theo and Celeste were looking around the room, while Angie was examining a collection of paints and paintbrushes.

Monorakun was also in here, to my dismay, sitting on a counter near Angie, looking annoyed.

"Are you done rummaging through every single supply drawer and cabinet in here yet? I already told you, we have everything you could need in here to sculpt, draw, paint, or otherwise create any kind of artwork you wish. Now, quit making a mess of things!" Monorakun scolded Angie.

"Nyahahaha! Atua says to inspect everything in here, and then He will be satisfied," Angie cheerfully responded, oblivious to Monorakun's irritation.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got your stupid Atua thing. Now it burns when I pee!" Monorakun shot back snarkily, but Angie wasn't paying any attention.

Meanwhile, Theo and Celeste were having a discussion in the back. Chihiro was hanging back with Chiaki, so I assumed it was my turn to approach the two.

Theo addressed me first, before waving Chihiro and Chiaki over, as Celeste walked off towards Angie. He then spoke to us, rather quietly.

"Now, unlike Celeste and Monorakun over there, I don't believe we have time to think about something as foolish as killing one another. Each of us must do what we have to do. Observe, recognize, speculate, comprehend, and most importantly, understand. Even if that seems impossible, just persevere. Trust your gut, be aware of your surroundings, and don't do anything foolish, and I'm sure you'll be fine."

Chihiro, Chiaki and I decided to leave the Art Room and head towards the double doors, which led to a Game Room. Within was a Pool table, a Poker table (seating up to 6 people), a Roulette wheel, and a dartboard.

Chihiro walked over towards the Roulette wheel, seemingly intrigued by all the numbers and dual-colors on it.

"What is this?" Chihiro asked.

Chiaki answered, "It's Roulette. You place your bets on the table based on the likelihood of where you think the ball will land next. Each bet has different odds. After the bets are placed, the Roulette wheel is spun in one direction, and a ball is rolled in the opposite direction. Eventually, the ball will stop in one of the slots, and the players will win, or lose, based on how they bet that round. It's a random game of chance, as there is no knowing where the ball is going to land at any given time."

"Oh, I see. It still sounds like fun, though!" Chihiro happily replied.

I, at the meanwhile, was never into gambling games much, so my eyes were drawn to the dartboard.

Chihiro's eyes lowered, almost looking ashamed. "I don't think I could throw a dart hard enough to make it stick in that dartboard. I'm sorry."

Chiaki, meanwhile, responded, "There's more to darts than just strength, Chihiro. Just like in Pool, there's physics at work too. How hard you throw it, what height you throw it at, all while analyzing how much the dart drops as it goes through the air. That said, I'm no fan of Darts, either."

Well, there went that idea for the future.

Passing the Poker Table, we all gathered around the Pool table. This time, I took the lead with Chihiro.

"Pool is another physics-based game, but it's more focused on what angle you strike the cue ball at, and how hard you hit it. However, unlike Darts, you don't usually want to hit the cue ball as hard as you can, as that can really mess up your shot, or even make your cue ball fly off the table or end up in one of the six holes, called 'pockets'. Needless to say, you want to avoid that at all costs," I explained.

To my surprise, Chihiro actually seemed somewhat interested in the Pool table, her finger tapping her lower lip. "Physics-based, but you don't need to be strong to play...It seems like fun! Could you teach me how to play sometime, Bera?"

I nodded. "Certainly, though I'm not particularly great at Pool. I just know how to play, that's all."

We took our leave of the Game Room and continued down the hall, passing a hallway on our left as we approached the final door, and a gated-off stairway.

Within the final door was a School Store, with a variety of items for sale for "Monocoins", whatever those were. I was sure Monorakun would explain later. There were items with various amounts assigned to them, and a kiosk that looked like you could put your E-Handbook on it. However, nothing in here looked particularly interesting, so we left rather quickly, and headed down the hallway leading to the Movie Theater.

Inside were Hifumi, Sonia, and Kenchikka, looking over the seats and the large screen. Looking across the room from the Concession Stand, I noticed a Listing of what would be shown for the day. Unfortunately, it seemed all the movies were predetermined; we could not pick what was watched, and according to the post, the doors would lock after the movie started, preventing anyone from entering or leaving until after the movie was finished. However, there was a unisex bathroom in the corner for use.

Kenchikka noticed me looking around the Movie Theater. She walked up to me, her hand against one of the seats for support.

"Concession stand free of charge. Has popcorn, peanuts, various candy bars, soda. Trash can next to it. Good idea to clean up after one's self, not want to sit in other person's mess, might make Asshole Raccoon angry too. Should probably avoid that as much as possible," Kenchikka rapidly spoke, her brown eye focused on me.

I nodded. "Yeah, we should probably avoid antagonizing Monorakun any more than necessary."

Suddenly, Kenchikka gripped the left side of her head and stumbled a few steps, groaning a bit as her shoulder rammed into the wall. She remained standing, however, but Chihiro caught sight of her, too.

"Are you ok, Kenchikka? What's wrong?" Chihiro asked, her eyes wide open as she ran up to us.

Kenchikka was grimacing a bit, but she nodded. "Yeah. Migraine. Side effect from TBI. Will eventually pass. Thanks...for concern, though."

"Well, ok then. I'm not very strong, but if I can help you, I will!" Chihiro replied, concern all over her face.

Hifumi and Sonia, meanwhile, were sitting in the front row, chatting away about something related to princesses. Chihiro convinced Kenchikka to at least sit down for a bit, before the two of us, along with Chiaki, took our leave of the Movie Theater.

The three of us made a left at the T intersection, and saw Yasuhiro frantically pounding on the front door, which now appeared to be locked.

"Please! I don't wanna die here! God, Buddha, Zeus, Lord Raiden, anyone! Help me!" Yasuhiro loudly pleaded as he continued to beat on the locked door.

Monorakun suddenly appeared, coming from the opposite direction. "Hey, Bob Marley wannabe, this door's locked from the outside. Even I can't open it. Now, as amusing as it is to watch you lose your mind in here, can you please SHUT UP?!"

Yasuhiro regarded Monorakun with suspicion. "No. No no no no no! You're one of...THEM! You're with the aliens that stole my hamburger! I gotta get outta here! Gotta break freeeeeee!!" Yasuhiro then took off running, towards a set of double doors marked "Dorms".

Monorakun stood there silently for a few moments after Yasuhiro disappeared, then stared straight up at us.

"The. Fuck?" Monorakun cocked his head at the three of us.

Chihiro and I shrugged. Chiaki, meanwhile, continued on with her game, not even looking up.

"Anyway, I meant what I said. This front door is locked from the outside, and even I have no way to unlock this door. No one leaves unless they kill another student, and gets away with it. Capisce?"

I nodded. Chihiro moved in against me, seemingly scared. Chiaki didn't respond, merely glancing briefly at Monorakun before resuming her game.

Turning our attention to the opened double doors behind us, we walked through them into a Courtyard. Inside the Courtyard, there was a round table with six seats directly to our left, with two benches lining up the left side wall. Makoto, Sayaka, and Mukuro were sitting at the furthest bench, staring upwards

In front of us, to the right, were two more benches, facing some kind of fountain. Its centerpiece was a Monorakun head, with water pouring out of his mouth steadily. Looking up, there was a glass ceiling above us, revealing the sky above us. It was very overcast outside, like it could rain soon.

"Well, at least we can see the sky outside," Chihiro said. "As long as it's real..."

"Yep, it's real, alright." Mukuro observed. "The clouds are drifting like real clouds should. The glass doesn't look like normal glass, though..."

"That's because it's not!" Monorakun stated, walking into the Courtyard on all fours. "Indeed, the sky you see is the real sky, the real weather outside, but that glass ceiling up there? Bulletproof, shatterproof, and can withstand tornadoes and earthquakes."

Monorakun paused, then pointed a claw towards the upper floors. "Much like those windows, come to think of it. They're also soundproof, so no one's gonna hear you scream, outside or through those windows."

Mukuro's eyes narrowed. Chihiro's eyes widened. Chiaki seemed completely unbothered.

"So we're confined within this world, limited to the services provided. I see," Chiaki calmly commented. "I think we've seen everything this floor has to offer. We should check out the Dorms area now."

"Y-Yeah! Let's go there next," I agreed.

We left the First Floor area and headed to the Dorms, where we were quickly met with the Restrooms and Trash Room on our left, and the Dining Hall on our right. However, none of us were hungry, nor did we have any trash to empty, so we kept walking towards the T-intersection.

At the end of the T-Intersection, there was a door leading to the Laundry Room directly on our left. Walking past that, there were a row of dorms, 3 on each side. On the left, from closest to furthest away, was Sonia, Sayaka, and Celeste's dorm rooms, On the right was Kenchikka, Kaede, and lastly Angie's dorm room.

Leaving that hallway, we walked up the top part of the T intersection, where we came across Mukuro's room, Chiaki's room, Chihiro's room, and finally my own room.

"Well, at least the three of us will all be close together." Chihiro sounded relieved, and a bit less nervous. "I want to see what my room looks like!"

"Me too," Chiaki agreed. "Since I will be spending each night in here, I may as well examine my nightly checkpoint."

I decided to look down the final hallway, leaving the other two behind. Closest to me, on the left, was Kaito, then Leon, then Yasuhiro. Down the right side was Makoto, Theo, and finally Hifumi.

Nodding to myself, noting that one hallway seemed to be for girls, and the other hallway for boys, I decided to follow Chihiro's and Chiaki's leads, and check out my own living accommodations.

There would be a few surprises in store for me. Some pleasant, some concerning...

And one that would freeze my very soul.