#and not like spanning the whole wall maybe 3 feet-ish?

[scyaxe]

i want an aesthetic bedroom when i move out, and i've already started vaguely planning, but i don't think anything i currently own would match my vision. and i can't get rid of most of it bc i really like it and/or use it

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 3, daily life (Part 2)

Note of the author: It’s motive time bois.

Chapter 3: What is beyond humans’ control - Daily life

Day 10 since the beginning of the game. 8:00 AM.

Shuichi woke up at the morning announcement. he slept better than expected, thankfully.

After taking a shower, he got dressed up to join the others in the dining hall.

Just as he left his room, he saw Angie leaving her room as well.

“Oh, hey Angie.” he yawned.

The girl span around so fast she almost tripped on her own feet. “G’morniiing!”

Shuichi chuckled. The two started making their way to the dining hall together.

“Apparently you helped Himiko and Kokichi making statues yesterday?” he decided to start a conversation.

She nodded. “Yeah! I taught them how to use chisels and hammers and woodpeckers and a lot of other tools!”

“I see,” he smiled. “That must have been fun then.”

She grinned. “Although they’re not the best at it, it was their first time!”

There was a short silence.

Shuichi didn’t know if asking her about her island was a good idea, but it was worth a shot. “Hey... I know this is probably a touchy subject for you and I won’t force you to talk but... How was it back there, sculpting?”

But when he looked at her, her eyes were empty. She had stopped in her tracks. “... I wish I could slaughter Atua with my own hands for all the shit he put all of us priestesses through. Just cutting him like Monokuma cut Maki with the scissors and watch his-”

The violinist couldn’t believe what she was saying. He wanted to put his hands on her shoulders, but refrained from doing so. “Angie! I-”

He paused. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have talked about this.”

She stared at him silently for a moment, then took a step back. “I told you, didn’t I? This is all behind me now! Now I can live with you all here in the academy!”

Shuichi didn’t know how to respond. He wanted to leave but seeing Angie like this made him feel sad. He had a family to go back to, but for those like Kirumi and Angie, this was a whole other story.

“Let’s... Just go to the dining hall. Miu and Kirumi probably already made breakfast.” he couldn’t look at Angie in the eyes. “But please consider talking to Kiyo about all of this. He can try to help you just please...”

He looked at her with pleading eyes. “Talk to someone about this.”

She looked at him with dumbfounded eyes, but then smiled. “Sure thing! But you don’t have to worry about this, Shuichi!~”

They finished their walk in silence.

When they reached the dining hall, Shuichi hoped to see breakfast ready and some of the others here to brighten up the mood.

Unfortunately, a way more confusing scene unfolded in front of his eyes.

Ryoma was in the corner of the room, curled into a ball, Rantaro desperately trying to talk to him.

“Ryoma please- Are you feeling okay??” he asked.

“S-Stay away from me! What did I even do to you?” the small man shakily replied. That was... Unusual.

Miu was a few meters away. She subtly approached the two.

“What’s going on with him?” Shuichi whispered to her.

“No one knows what’s going on. Ryoma looks afraid of everything and everyone, Tsumugi seems to have amnesia and we’ve been trying to understand the situation for twenty minutes. The two also have a huge fever from what Rantaro said.” she replied, as confused as him.

The others came in one by one, and explaining what was going on was impossible.

Rantaro was desperately trying to resonate with Ryoma, but it was useless.

Kirumi tried to talk to Tsumugi, but all she got from her was “Who are you?” and “Where are we?”

Once everyone got into the dining hall, the monokubs popped in.

“My goodness! That’s obviously bad!” Monophanie exclaimed.

The students turned to the bears.

“Teddy bears?” Tsumugi asked, confused.

“What did you do to them??” Miu yelled.

“Ahem! It looks like you want some explanations...” Monotaro said.

“Yeah no shit.” Kaito glared at him.

“MEET-YOUR-NEW-MOTIVE. THE-DESPAIR-DISEASE.” Monodam explained.

That didn’t seem to answer a lot of questions.

“We... May or may not have let some tiny insects inside the academy and it looks like they find you all appetizing!” The pink bear rubbed the back of her head.

Rantaro sighed. “Quit your bullshit. This is obviously your doing. No existing disease infects people that differently.” he glanced at Tsumugi, quietly sitting on a chair and Ryoma, curled up in a ball in the corner of the room.

“How dare you assume we’re lying! Bears never lie!” the red one raised his metal paws up in the air. “Anyway. It’s a really annoying disease where you get a high fever, along with various symptoms!”

Monodam pointed at the two sick students. “TSUMUGI-HAS-THE-AMNESIC-DISEASE. RYOMA-HAS-THE-COWARD-DISEASE.”

Kiyo put a finger on his chin. ”So basically the opposite of their normal personalities.”

“But be careful! Sometimes the despair disease can get passed from person to person just like a cold!” Monophanie put her paws on her cheeks.

Rantaro’s eyes widened. “And it had to be contagious of course.” He approached the bear. “And what’s the cure?”

“THIS-DISEASE-DOESN’T-NEED-A-CURE. IT-WILL-HELP-EVERYONE-GET-ALONG.”

“That’s right! It’s in the most difficult situations that you guys help each other. We thought that would help you all!”

Everyone fell silent. The absurdity of the statement was way too much.

The cubs, noticing the sudden tension in the room, chanted their catchphrase and left.

Shuichi glanced at Rantaro. He looked beyond mad. He took a deep breath and clapped his hands once.

“We’re gonna have to isolate them for now. Except we don’t have a comfortable separated facility for them.”

Shuichi pondered. “So we’ll have to keep them in their own rooms...”

“This is going to be a nightmare to take care of them. I have stuff in my lab but if I have to walk from my lab to the dormitories each time they need something I’m not going to keep up for long.”

Kirumi was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed. “I know this isn’t the best place, but what about the three rooms on the fourth floor? We’ll have to transport stuff here but at least it’s closer.”

“That’s probably the best we can do for now.” He lifted his head to look at everyone else. “I’ll stay here to keep an eye on them for now. Please try to make two of those rooms as comfortable as possible for them. There are three beds in my lab. I’m counting on you for this.”

“W-wait...”

Kokichi raised his hand. “I d-don’t really know... M-Maybe I’m wrong but... I feel like I have it t-too...”

Himiko jumped. “Huh? Really?”

He nodded. “I... I feel dizzy a-and my head is spinning... But I don’t feel any mental change s-so I’m not sure.”

Rantaro approached him and put the palm of his hand on the small boy’s forehead. “You’re feverish. We shouldn’t take any risks.

He pondered for a moment. “Does anyone else feel sick, aside from Kokichi, Tsumugi and Ryoma?”

No answer. “Good. You guys prepare the three rooms while I keep an eye on those three.”

Shuichi turned to him. “Hold on, you're volunteering to take care of them until they get better? You think you can take the risk being infected?”

He turned to the violinist. “I’ve seen worse. I’m the ultimate medic, so don’t worry about me, alright?”

The two stared at each other. Shuichi nodded. “Thanks a lot, Rantaro.”

The rest of the students spent the rest of the morning transporting the beds from the medic’s lab to the rooms. They also took furniture and items from various rooms and labs to make the room a bit more comfortable and less creepy than before.

Lamps and books from Tsumugi’s lab, chairs from Kirumi’s lab, and some decoration and items from the other labs and the warehouse.

At least those rooms looked more like bedrooms than occult-ish rooms. Of course there wasn’t the usual comfort of the dorms, but it was better than nothing.

Shuichi let Rantaro guide the patients to their rooms. They were surprisingly cooperative.

Tsumugi, Ryoma and Kokichi... He really hoped those three would get better.

Shuichi went to Rantaro’s lab. It pained him a little to learn that he was going to do everything by himself from now on.

When he stepped in the room, he was wearing a mask and plastic gloves, carefully handling medicine, beaker and eyedropper in hand.

Once he saw the violinist entering the lab, he put down his tools to look at him. “Do you need something? It’s probably best if you don’t approach me too much, just in case.”

Shuichi winced. “I mean... We can’t let you do everything by yourself... Can we at least do something for you?”

“Shuichi’s right! I can’t just stay here and let you do all the work!” a feminine voice came from behind.

Miu had just appeared in the lab. But while Shuichi was calmly asking how he could help, the girl was clearly determined to do so.

“I... Want to help the others in this. I want to apologize for everything I did after the motive videos... Even though it’s just a little, I want to be useful.” She bowed to Rantaro.

Unfortunately his expression was almost unreadable because of his mask, but Shuichi could clearly see the surprise in his eyes.

Rantaro stood up. “Like I said it’s better if only one of us takes care of the patients, and I’m the most qualified for this. But...”

He paused.

“If it’s not too much to ask, could you please make individual meals for the ill ones and me? And perhaps bring me a sleeping bag since I’ll probably stay here for a while.”

Shuichi put a finger on his chin. “And you’ll probably need some clean clothes too...”

Miu quickly stood up, pointing two fingers to her temple. “Leave it to me!”

Rantaro smiled behind his mask. “However could you bring me dish soap with it? It would be bad to give you back contaminated empty dishes.”

Miu smiled. “Got it!” she turned her back to him, and added: “Make sure to take care of yourself, alright sweetie?”

The medic chuckled. “Alright, alright. Take care of yourself as well, okay?”

The street artist smiled and left. There was a visible blush on her face.

He turned back to Rantaro and giggled. “She really seems into you, calling you ‘sweetie’ like this...”

He shrugged. “I’m not really used to affection like that, but it feels nice. Although I don’t see her ‘that’ way.”

Oh.

“I’ll go for now. Just like she said, don’t overwork yourself, okay?” Shuichi said.

Rantaro gave him a thumbs up. “Don’t worry about me. We should be alright for now.”

-

The group spent lunch together, but there were four less people than what was supposed to be. Obviously Himiko looked worried for Kokichi, but Angie was keeping her company, so it was fine.

Afternoon came and with four less people around, the academy felt empty. But at least they were in good hands.

Himiko and Angie were once again sculpting items in the latter’s lab.

Kaito and Keebo were in the warehouse. The biker had tried to replace Tsumugi and Ryoma for his maintenance.

Miu and Kirumi were cooking in the kitchen some meals and snacks for the infected ones and Rantaro.

Kiyo was outside, not doing anything in particular, so Shuichi approached him.

“Oh, hello Shuichi. Do you need anything?” he asked.

He shook his head. “Not really. Just thought we could hang out.”

The two sat under the wisterias of the courtyard. They had a relaxing feeling, and Shuichi often saw Kiyo talking to people under here.

The violinist picked a flower and started fiddling with it. “What do you think about all of this? I’ve never heard what you thought about this situation.”

Kiyo looked at him. “About what exactly?”

“I would guess the disease... Rantaro said he didn’t believe the bears and said they were lying about the origin of the disease.”

The therapist pondered for a moment, staring at the void.

“... I don’t really know. To be honest I’m contemplating the possibility of the mastermind being one of the ill ones.”

Shuichi’s eyes widened. “Huh? You think the mastermind is either Ryoma, Tsumugi or Kokichi?”

“I didn’t say that I was sure, just that we should not exclude the possibility.”

The violinist frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean...”

“Let’s say the mastermind is the one who gave the ‘disease’ to us. We would obviously think they wouldn’t give the disease to themselves. So they could have just given themselves a fever and act like have the disease.”

Shuichi put his elbows on his knees, head resting on his hands. “But can we even be sure there is a mastermind among us? Maki’s execution still went on even though Monokuma was destroyed, and he came back right after...”

“I don’t really know about this part. We thought that the mastermind would go to the hidden room to summon another Monokuma, but Maki’s execution proved us that it wasn’t the case.”

Shuichi tried to think. “Maybe... They had a remote on them?”

Kiyo narrowed his eye. “That’s a possibility. But... Monokuma wants us to feel despair, right?”

Shuichi raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Because Monokuma reappeared the next day the first time he was crushed, we assumed someone had to go in the hidden room to manually create another one, and they needed to wait until everyone was asleep to act.”

He nodded.

“But if Monokuma’s objective is to destroy our hopes, the mastermind probably let us hope he was definitely destroyed, then created another one to intensify the psychological effect. They could have been able to do it since the very beginning. However, since Maki’s execution was an emergency, they didn’t have time to think and immediately created another one.”

Shuichi lowered his head. “That’s messed up... But that doesn’t explain how they do so...”

“I’m not sure. The remote seems like a plausible theory. We were all in a panic when the courtroom was falling appart, so they could have done something without us realizing.”

That... Made sense.

“But if they can create another Monokuma whenever they want, doesn’t that mean there is a possibility they’re not among us and simply hiding in the hidden room?”

Kiyo hummed. “It’s possible, however since there is still a chance they’re in this group, I wouldn’t talk too quickly.”

Shuichi nodded.

“But to come back to what you said about the despair disease, what would the mastermind gain by giving themselves the disease?” he asked.

“To make us think they’re not one of them, at the risk of not being able to do anything since Rantaro keeps an eye on them at all times. But that would be quite the gamble.” Kiyo explained.

That was quite unlikely, Shuichi thought, but not impossible.

“And Rantaro... I can’t say for certain. He has a great influence on the others but I know a genuine speech when I see one. That’s what last trial proved me.” he added.

Shuichi remembered Kirumi’s words the day before.

‘Willing to listen’ and ‘trusting’ are two very different things. That’s what differentiates strategists and friends.

Rantaro... He was a strategist. He gave the key to his lab to Ryoma in case someone tried to get it from him. He knew another killing would happen and did his best to keep the group calm and rational. Even going as far as to expose the truth about the lack of benefits he would get by escaping. He also volunteered to take care of the ill students all by himself. It was clear he wanted to have a good influence on the group. To be in control of the situation, in a good way.

But him being the mastermind wasn’t something Shuichi wanted to think about.

A part of him also hoped Kiyo wasn’t the mastermind and said all those theories on purpose to confuse him.

The discussion felt tiring.

The two decided to drop the subject for now to talk about their respective lives.

-

Evening came. The rest of the group joined in the dining hall but Shuichi still felt like someone was missing.

There were 12 students alive in the academy. 3 of them were resting because of the illness and one was taking care of them. Yet only half of the remaining students were in the dining hall.

After a quick glance, Shuichi noticed both Miu and Himiko were absent.

Right after thinking that, the street artist entered the dining hall, alone.

“Where’s Himiko?” he asked as she sat in front of Kaito.

“She’s in front of Kokichi’s room and they talk through the door. She’s been at it for an hour now and I don’t think she’ll leave soon.” Miu explained.

Kaito raised an eyebrow as he was eating. “Rantaro doesn’t mind?”

She shook her head. “He said as long as Himiko doesn’t enter the room it’s fine. Also that she must be out of the way during his checks.”

She took a sip of water from her glass. “So right now they’re eating dinner separated by a door.”

Shuichi nodded. Rantaro probably knows more about him about what they should do.

After finishing dinner, since there wasn’t much to do, everyone parted their ways. However there was one last thing Shuichi needed to do.

He quickly looked at his monopad to see where the therapist was. He was outside, on a bench near the wisterias, as usual.

It didn’t take long for Shuichi to reach him.

“Hey, Kiyo?”

He turned to him. He seemed to have been lost in his own thoughts. “Do you need anything?”

He winced. This was a touchy subject, but he had to.

“I think you should try to talk to Angie... I’m a bit concerned about her.”

He explained the whole situation. What she told him in her lab and their discussion this morning.

Kiyo hummed.

“I see. If as you say she resents her home more than this entire killing game, then there is a high possibility she went through severe trauma.”

He stood up. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll talk to her tomorrow, since it is getting late.”

The two went back to the dormitories, hoping Rantaro would be fine by himself.

The disease didn’t need to make any more victims and suffering.

They could only hope for the best.

[emeraldbroam]

do all 100 questions

I’m so pissed I started this and got through 25 ish questions and then closed the tab so here we go again

6 of the songs you listen to most?

Praying, Ke$ha

Eraser, Ed Sheeran

Play That Song, Train

Here, Alessia Cara

We Didn’t Start the Fire, Bon Jovi

Something Just Like This, Chainsmokers and Coldplay

If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

TBH I don’t know

Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.

“He infused them with Stormlight, Lashing them to a point behind the king.”

What do you think about most?

Figuring out who I am and what I want

What does your latest text message from someone else say?

“I think I cab sleeo NoeThank u for the kittiesThey wer v niceIlyyyyy ❤❤❤❤❤”

(spelling errors left intact)

Do you sleep with or without clothes on?

depends on the day

What’s your strangest talent?

My ability to be very awkward

Girls… (finish the sentence); Boys… (finish the sentence)

Both are great?

Ever had a poem or song written about you?

Yes! several actually!

When is the last time you played the air guitar?

....not in my memory

Do you have any strange phobias?

nah, not that I can think of

Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose?

Absolutely

What’s your religion?

Atheist/Agnostic

If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?

Reading/Biking/Hiking/just chilling

Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

both but generally behind

Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?

.....whichever one of those in Q1 counts as a band?

What was the last lie you told?

Something decently sized and sorta important but overall unimportant

Do you believe in karma?

Yes

What does your URL mean?

I was 15 and really liked the Stormlight Archives

What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength?

Greatest weakness is probably the fact that I assume everything is directed at me and I have trouble telling people when things bother me (lmao closely interacted), and my greatest strength is my ability to befriend some really weird people

Who is your celebrity crush?

N/A

Have you ever gone skinny dipping?

Yes! several times 

How do you vent your anger?

I write

Do you have a collection of anything?

Yes!

Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

depends on the person and topic

Are you happy with the person you’ve become?

Mostly? I’ve got a long way to go till I’m the person I want to be tho

What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?

I cannot stand the sound of people eating, some peoples voices are truly fantastic though.

What’s your biggest “what if”?

What if my dad had known earlier?

Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

Maybe? Absolutely

Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm.

A wall (complete with Ace flag), and my water Bottle

Smell the air. What do you smell?

Surprisingly nothing?

What’s the worst place you have ever been to?

It depends a lot on the definition of worst TBH? cause like...worst for my mental health is probably high school?

Choose: East Coast or West Coast?

East. all the way

Most attractive singer of your opposite gender?

I don’t know if there is anyone with an opposite gender to me? I mean how do you invert Nonbinary?

To you, what is the meaning of life?

42

Define Art.

Something that makes someone happy/feel things

Do you believe in luck?

In small amounts

What’s the weather like right now?

Cloudy and humid as fuck (if it would storm at any point that would be fucking fantastic)

What time is it?

2:20 am

Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?

Yes and no!

What was the last book you read?

I’m in the middle of Way of Kings

Do you like the smell of gasoline?

Somewhat actually?

Do you have any nicknames?

Harpe diem, Ralph, that nickname my mom gave me that I’m not telling y’all.

What was the last film you saw?

The Matrix

What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?

definitely a tie between breaking a chip off my foot and cutting a gash in my thigh that (at the time) was like half the length of my thigh (please note I didn’t get medical assistance for this and instead just applied a lot of bandaids)

Have you ever caught a butterfly?

Yes! 

Do you have any obsessions right now?

The TV show leverage and Cosmere are a few!

What’s your sexual orientation?

Ace!

Ever had a rumour spread about you?

Maybe? not in a bad way tho

Do you believe in magic?

Small magics

Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?

That depends a Lot on what they’ve done

What is your astrological sign?

Cancer

Do you save money or spend it?

Save, definitely save

What’s the last thing you purchased?

Tomatoes

Love or lust?

Love

In a relationship?

Nope

How many relationships have you had?

3

Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

Nah

Where were you yesterday?

Generally near my school, more specifically I did a lot of walking and visited the farmers market

Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?

yeah, my roommate loves pink

Are you wearing socks right now?

Nope

What’s your favourite animal?

Dragons!

What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?

Being myself? idk?

Where is your best friend?

They’re all a little scattered, within a mile of me, this city, another state, two other cities in my state

Give me your top 5 favourite blogs on Tumblr.

Oh shoot I’m bad at this idk, it’s 2:30 in the morning don’t ask me to make decisions

What is your heritage?

All of those Scandinavian countries? yes

What were you doing last night at 12AM?

something on my computer

What do you think is Satan’s last name?

something that starts with LeC-

Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off?

I’m ignoring this one cause I don’t wanna

Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?

I hope so

You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?

Call my boss as I fish the dog out and run to work

You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid?

I definitely tell people

I don’t know what I’d do honestly, cry a lot probably? 

definitely 

You can only have one of these things; trust or love.

Trust

What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?

Yellow Submarine

What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?

Why do you want this information?

In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?

Trust and communication

How can I win your heart?

Be kind, listen, don’t ask for more than you can give, enjoy things I enjoy

Can insanity bring on more creativity?

Yeah I suppose so

What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?

Switching high schools to the one I graduated from

What size shoes do you wear?

8 or 11

What would you want to be written on your tombstone?

Fuck man I don’t know

What is your favourite word?

I don’t really have one?

Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart.

Muscle

What is a saying you say a lot?

“We’re just going to ignore me doing that stupid ass thing that I just did”

What’s the last song you listened to?

Eraser, Ed Sheeran

Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours?

Blue/Green

What is your current desktop picture?

This stock photo of an ocean

If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?

How big is the blast radius?

What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

here’s the thing, I would say but then people would ask and I don’t wanna answer it so nah

One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?

My heart rate would spike and then I’d probably just....leave

You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power?

Invisibility

You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?

A time when I was 12 or so and I could just hike on the eno with my dad and cookout

You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

As shitty as some points of my life have been I would keep them because they’ve shaped who I am and my understanding of myself

You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?

No one

You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?

To a mountain range

Do you have any relatives in jail?

ummmmmm

I don’t actually know how they’re related to me but my great aunt’s grandchildren’s boyfriend maybe??? is/was in jail????

Have you ever thrown up in the car?

yes. it fucken sucked

Ever been on a plane?

Yeah! I enjoy it!

If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say?

can we all collectively take one deep breath and then think this through? Okay thanks, now exactly what is the issue with everyone?