First Floor Investigation

Taking a deep breath, I decided to approach Mondo and Fuyuhiko, who seemed to be having a heated discussion, but were thankfully keeping amongst themselves. Wishing to diffuse this situation, as I often did at the Shishano mortuary, I politely introduced myself and asked if they needed any assistance.

Neither of them seemed to notice me, at least not right away. Fuyuhiko started to say something, but Mondo cut him off. "Look, man, I don't really wanna fight with you, ok? I've seen enough of that in my biker days, before my bro created the Crazy Diamonds. I'm just saying, do what you need to do to reach your goals and make yourself stronger!"

Fuyuhiko shot back, "Don't talk to me like we're friends or something! I'm not your friend, dumbass!"

Mondo started to say something else, but then looked at me and seemed to mellow out. "Hey, chick, whatcha want?"

I blushed a little bit at being called a chick, but answered politely, "I would like to see what is on this floor, if you two would not mind accompanying me. Perhaps I can ease some of the tension here, as well? I am a very good listener."

Fuyuhiko spun and glared at me, but Mondo stepped in front of me. "Watch it, pal. Real men don't hit women, ya hear me?"

Fuyuhiko glared at him in response, but said nothing. I had a feeling it did not have anything to do with me being a girl, though. After a few moments, Fuyuhiko composed himself, and then scoffed at us. "Tch. Do whatever you want." However, he made no movement away from me or Mondo or me.

Fuyuhiko was starting to strike me as a tsundere type, but maybe I was looking too much into it. Looking again at my E-Handbook, it was 5:05pm.

We quickly discovered that there were two doors that led to a girls and boys locker room, with a pool on the other side. To deter a boy from going to the girl's side, or vice versa, a large gun was mounted on the ceiling. This gun fanned from one entrance to the other, with one door going to the pool, and the other door returning to the gym. Fuyuhiko mentioned the name of the gun, but regretfully, the name did not stick with me.

Deciding not to check out the pool just yet, we left the gym instead and headed out. Making a left, we were met with a long hallway, which led to another long hallway with two sets of double doors, one of which was barricaded shut with chains. The other set, however, was not, and appeared to lead outdoors.

Opening these double doors, we were met with a nice courtyard, with grey benches and a round grey table, that could seat six people. There was also a strange fountain towards the far right side, that looked like a giant Monorakun's head constantly spewing water from its mouth. It actually looked somewhat relaxing, aside from the water fountain, and with the benches and the table for six, it could make for a nice meeting spot, too.

Looking up, I could see a total of five floors and a glass ceiling. I couldn't see inside any of the windows, though. They reminded me of the windows in the Embalming Room of our mortuary; you could see out, but could not see in. This was helpful when wandering children ended up in places they should not be in; they would not be able to see me, or others, performing our funereal rites.

Surprisingly, neither Mondo nor Fuyuhiko were saying much of anything. They were looking around as well, with Fuyuhiko seeming indifferent to everything. As for Mondo, he did a lot of looking around and nodding, but really did not say much.

After we finished looking around the Courtyard, we left and went around the corner, checking out classrooms 1-B and 1-C. However, both classrooms seemed very run-of-the-mill; 16 desks, in four rows of four, with a teacher's desk, an electronic blackboard, a monitor displaying the Hope's Peak Academy logo, and a security monitor watching the entire room.

Mondo commented, mostly to himself, "Hey, the classrooms here look better than the ones I'm used to at my school."

Fuyuhiko looked at him as if he was an idiot, but did not say anything. I guess he got tired of being a jerk, for the moment.

We left both of the classrooms and came across a metal gate, blocking off a stairway going up. Near that was a room marked "School Store".

Fuyuhiko looked around the room, then opened his big mouth again. "What the fuck is all this useless shit here for?!"

"What're you calling useless shit?" Monorakun shot back at Fuyuhiko. "I completely revamped the previous system, which just threw random crap at you. This system is much more fun! Lemme show you!"

Monorakun threw aside a curtain, revealing a wide variety of prizes, each one with a set amount of points assigned to it. He then pointed to a kiosk.

"You can scan your E-Handbook there to see how many Monocoins you have, and use those Monocoins to buy stuff, either for yourself or for others! You can also use them to bet, either at the Poker table, or the new Roulette table!"

Fuyuhiko scoffed, "Roulette? Really? I never understood what my fellow Yakuza saw in that game. Poker, on the other hand? That's a REAL card game! Let's check it out!"

Monorakun led us out of the School Store and into the Game Room. There was a pool table, a dartboard, a six-sided poker table, and a strange looking Roulette wheel.

Monorakun stopped near the Roulette wheel. The usual red spots were a dark grey instead, and instead of 0 and 00, there was a red slitted eye and two red slitted eyes, like what Monorakun had. It had a tough, clear dome over it, and an open slot along the side to spin the Roulette wheel, along with a spiraling tube that dropped a white ball. There was also a lever under it, which you lifted to send the ball rolling along its way. There was a mechanism that only allowed the wheel to spin one way, and the ball's spiral went in the opposite direction. Once the Roulette was over, there was a platform that seemed to carry the ball back to its original location.

Monorakun scurried to the front of the Mono-Roulette and turned on a monitor attached to it. This panel had bets you could place. Black/Grey and Odd/Even were 1:1, meaning you win what you bet.

You could also bet on a section (1-12, 13-24, 25-36) or a row (first, middle, or last). These were 2:1, meaning you won double your bet.

One question immediately sprung to mind. "How do you get Monocoins in the first place?"

Monorakun spun around to face me. "Good question! You'll get 100 Monocoins per day. You can win more at Roulette, or beat other students at Poker and take theirs. And, again, you can use those Monocoins to buy stuff at the School Store, gamble with them in here, or just hoard them for no apparent reason! I don't much care, honestly."

Fuyuhiko decided to stay in the Game Room, so me and Mondo checked out the final classroom, which looked much like the other two, then headed towards our dorms.

Exiting the First Floor, we walked into the Dorms area of the school. Immediately to our left were the Boys and Girls Rest Rooms. Just past those were a Dining Hall on the right, and a Trash Room on the left.

"Wow," Mondo exclaimed as we looked inside the Dining Hall. "What a big-ass dining room!" There was a long brown table, five seats long and three seats across, for a total of 16 seats, fitting for the 16 of us. We walked towards a door towards the back of the room, which led to a kitchen.

Teruteru was in there, checking out the utensils and pans. I curtsied to him, then asked him what he was doing in here.

"Ah, examining the quality of my wares here. It seems whoever locked us in here spared no expense on cooking supplies. These are all top-grade, indeed."

Looking over at Mondo suddenly, he grinned. "Ah, while you're here. I have an idea for a Home...coming Feast, if you will. Any suggestions on what I should...whip up?"

Mondo thought for a moment. "Eh, I don't really care. You're the Ultimate Cook, or Chef, or whatever, right? I'm sure whatever you make will be good."

Teruteru then turned his attention to me, letting his eyes wander up and down my legs, as countless guys have done before. My black opaques draw a lot of male attention, and not all of it wanted, but in my profession, they are a requirement. Therefore, as long as they do not get physical, I brush it off as male hormones at work.

"And...you, my dear? What would your suggestion be for our Home...coming Feast?" Teruteru asked, the double entente of "coming" not lost upon me.

I glanced around at several pots sitting around, then responded, "I was thinking perhaps a pig roast, but I do not see a pot large enough to fit you in."

Teruteru chuckled. "I see...so you're the cautious type. I can understand that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a feast to prepare! Time to let my fantasies run wild!"

Deciding not to respond to that, I left the Kitchen with Mondo to explore the dorms. before that, though, we poked our heads into the Trash Room. Our pictures were taken as soon as we stepped in, which was displayed on a monitor on the other side of the room. There was a trash compactor, and an incinerator, side by side inside the room, but not much else of interest. At least we had a way to dispose of garbage, and it was close to the Dining Hall, so food waste wouldn't have far to go.

Leaving the Trash Room, we decided to check out where we would all be sleeping. To my surprise, my room was really close to the Dining Hall, and down the perpendicular hall from the Laundry Room in the corner. Next to my room, along the right side, was Kyoko, then Korekiyo, then Teruteru at the end.

At the ends of the perpendicular hallway were two more hallways, one for the girls and one for the boys. From the furthest away, left to right, it was Sakura and Tenko, then Mahiru and Hiyoko in the middle, then Himiko and Toko closest to us.

Down the boy's hallway, it was Fuyuhiko furthest down on the left, with Mondo across from him. in the middle was Nekomaru on the left and Gundham on the right, then Ryoma and Rantaro on the left and right of the entryway.

Looking at my E-Handbook, it was almost 6pm. Mondo looked over at me, gave me a nod, and took his leave of me, saying he wanted to check out his room while we were already here. Thinking that was a good idea, I decided to check out my own room as well.

Inside my room, to my confusion, there were two beds, both neatly made. There was also a first-aid kit attached to the wall, with stuff to treat anything from minor cuts and scrapes to broken bones and bleeding.

Confused, I asked myself out loud, "Why is all this in here?"

To my shock, a voice replied, "This used to be the Nurse's Office, but we needed the extra room, so it's your bedroom now!"

Monorakun was behind me, looking through my closet. "Oh, and your clothes are in here, all the same as what you're wearing. Everyone has a week's worth of clothes to wear, and there's enough washers and dryers for everyone."

Monorakun then shut my closet door and pointed a white, furry paw. "Bathroom's over there, and I don't care which bed you sleep in. You can sleep on the floor, for all I care. I got other things to do." He then vanished into thin air, without even a sound.

This school was going to take some getting used to...and it would only get more stressful.