Chapter 3

Rem couldn't believe her eyes as she saw the most famous characters right in front of her. She felt blessed for a moment when suddenly a small bell ring interrupted her joy.

"Ding-di-ding-ding! Congratulations everyone for obtaining hope fragments! I request everyone to gather at beach to recieve their gifts- " a cute voice comes from the monitor tv present in the room. Rem notices the bunny dressed in pink, named Usami, their so-called teacher in this simulation. She peeked through the gaps of crowd in front of her when suddenly their eyes met.

Usami gets shocked upon seeing her and the monitor turns off instantly.

"Huh? What was that all about?" Nagito mumbles while standing behind Rem. Everyone looked at each other in silence when suddenly the rest of the members enters cafeteria too. They were the most shocked one as they couldn't understand the reason crowd gathered until their gaze fall upon Rem. They headed to confront Rem, but suddenly a figure appeared in front of them out of nowhere.

Rem startled upon seeing her sudden arrival and catches table edge.

"Who are you?! How did you entered here?!" Usami asked with a serious tone.

Everyone got astonished from her question and stared at Rem with suspicious eyes. A cold chill ran down her spines as their intense gaze bored a hole right through her face. She catched her breath and sighs deeply to calm herself down.

"Usami, I want you to check the security right now. There's not much time left! Please increase the number of barriers and antivirus software in an instant." Rem's response leaves everyone in bewilderment. They stood frozen as they couldn't process what she meant. Usami too flinches upon hearing such technical terms and share an eye contact with Chiaki, secretly.

Chiaki too was quite surprised but she nodded hesitantly as it was better to be precautionary in advance. Usami understood her signal and started checking system defense status, and was surprised to notice someone was already hacking it from outside. She couldn't believe Rem's words were true and signalled Chiaki the danger signal when she recognised the symbolic malware.

All this time, her actions were invisible to others as they couldn't see status bars. They kept staring at Usami and Rem in aghast until Usami freaked out and shouted "Oh dear!! How could this even be possible?!!! I must send urgent SOS message to headquarters. This is not good, this is not good!..." Her panic made other anxious too.

They questioned Usami and Rem about what was happening around them, but none of them answered. "For now try upgrading the defense wall and download high quality antivirus software! That should keep him away for a while! Hurry and try direct contacting HQ too!" Rem yelled as Usami rummaged through multiple invisible tabs.

"I am trying! It's just that he's so fast, my speed can't keep up!..Oh no! He had already hijacked the communication panel! I can't contact them! I am going to send emergency message now!" Usami sent the code red message to her headquarter and was about to commence this simulation end when suddenly her panel starts glitching and ultimately disappeared.

A sudden chill in atmosphere filled the space as dark clouds covered the clear blue tropical sky. The gusty wind whistled in open rooms when suddenly the monitor turns ON again.

"Ah..ah..hello? Mic check, mic check.....can you hear me? Can you hear me?" A disembodied shrill voice echoed as a black figure moved in screen. But unlike others who were confused at what was happening around them, Rem turned furiously towards Usami yelling to stop him at all cost! Usami sobs upon hearing her scolding but face down claiming she failed to protect it as the hacker was too fast.

Rem collapsed on the ground as her mind filled with despair.

"It's over." She mumbles to herself.

Her body shakes as she realised there was nothing that could be done now. Usami tries to encourage her but it doesn't convince Rem even one bit as she knew how weak Usami was.

"Usami. A storm is gonna hit the shore. You better be prepared in advance. Protect your weapons at all cost and always have a secret power in advance." Rem at this point was monotonously mumbling to Usami, who was very puzzled at the moment.

At one side, while Usami was trying to lift Rem's mood, Chiaki was very stressed regarding the situation. What she feared the most, had come knocking right at her doorsteps. Obviously, others were trying to find out who that mysterious identity was on the other side of screen, but that didn't concerned her.

The notice of doom had already falled upon her, when that hysterical voice of Monokuma ringed her ears. Somehow, an unregistered identity named Rem also knew about this, and seeing her falling in the pits of despair, she could tell her awareness of the future brutality.

"Usami, I'll handle her. You please go and solve that issue." Chiaki whispered as she approached them silently.

"Which issue?"

"Huh?!"

Everyone jolted at their place as they witnessed a half-black and half-white teddy bear standing right behind Usami. The whole crew except the threesome didn't expect it to be a soft toy robot just like Usami.

But the one who were shocked the most were three of them. Their face had suddenly gotten pale, and the immensity of despair clearly reflected in their eyes. The body was frozen at place, especially of Rem, but a sudden swish made her hands slip on the ground.

"*Powww!* Hahahahahha!!!!"

Monokuma had landed a sudden blow on Usami out of nowhere. The impact was so strong that she was trembling while laying on the ground.