"HEHEHEHE! MASTER'S SHOE! I'VE GOT IT!"

Genocide Jill ran through the hallways gleefully as she clutched onto something in her arms. Byakuya ran after her, both feet shoeless as he sighed in exasperation.

"Give me that back!"

"Nyeh...why does she have his shoe?" Himiko just shook her head, confused as to what was going on.
The others, Hiro, Makoto, and Tanya, could only shrug.

"You know, I don't know," Tanya just placed her hands on her hips. "Seems she's still the same as she was before. Wonder if Byakuya told her about the stupid motive stuff."

"I doubt that. Byakuya doesn't seem like he enjoys conversing with Toko," Makoto just sighed, "when did all of this get so crazy...?"

"More like when does it stop?" Hiro raised his finger to his nose. His clothes were incredibly wrinkled and creased. "I mean, for serious. First Kyoko's gone, then Janelle...happened..and then Lyra's craziness, Genocide Jack...When are we going to catch a break?"

"Soon. I mean, no other kills will happen, so we should be fine," Makoto said. "Everything will settle down soon enough."

"R-Right! Yeah, agreed," Tanya nodded, "we're all
doing our best to stop anything like that from ever happening ever again. We should totally do something with all of us together so that everyone can see that."

"Huh, yeah...Wait, no!" Hiro immediately pointed at Tanya, a terrified look on his face. "That would never work. We've got an actual serial killer within our midst, how are we supposed to pretend everything's okay!?"

"Well, it's not pretending. I'm sure we'll figure it all out! I mean...right?"

"Yeah, of course," Makoto agreed. "Anyway, let's go find the others. I'm sure they'll want to know about Toko."

The three made their way to the breakfast hall, and much to their surprise, many people were missing. In fact, the only people there were Aoi, Sonia, Hajime, Shuichi, and Himiko.

"W-What!? How are there so many people missing!?" Tanya immediately questioned, her eyes wide as her jaw hung open in shock. "We all agreed to eat breakfast together, where is everyone-?"

"Well, I think everyone is a little spooked about yesterday's whole motive thing," Hajime frowned, "I mean, I wanna know what's in there really badly...but I didn't look. I did go to the gym to see if anyone tampered with anything, but all sixteen envelopes were still there."

"Um, that's good to know no one tried to tamper with anything," Shuichi agreed as he fiddled with his uniform. "I mean, we wouldn't want anyone looking at their own stuff, but certainly not anyone looking at stuff that isn't theirs..."

"Oh! I know! We should throw the packages all into the chemistry lab, so no one can tamper with them!" Sonia suggested, her eyes wide with delight at her own idea. "Then no one will be able to even access the motive!"

"That's great...and then I can seal it up with my magic," Himiko agreed. Hope was beginning to brew when the bear suddenly appeared as always.

"No, no, no! You can't just stow away the motives!" Monokuma scowled, "that's illegal. New rule, no destroying, hiding, or locking away a motive!"

"That's just plain cheating!" Tanya exclaimed, "you can't do that!"

"I can do whatever I want! Cause I'm....Monokuma! Puhuhu, see ya later!"

He disappeared, leaving the group immensely irritated. The good mood was once again shattered just by his Monokuma's short presence.

"Well...at least no one has checked the motives yet. At the very least, that's an accomplishment," Tanya sighed, "so we've just got to stay hopeful! I know, I know, we can convince everyone to...not murder!"

"That sounds like a lovely start," Sonia agreed, "but...however do we do that?"

"Er...we'll figure that part out soon."

<><><>

Maki had two plates of food balanced on one arm as she made her way to the chemistry lab.

She wasn't a cruel human being so as to starve her captives, she just wanted everyone else to be safe. This was what had to be done in order to ensure safety, and frankly, she didn't miss them from any events, and no one else really seemed to, either. She would do anything to make sure everyone remained happy so they could all escape the school together...

She fiddled with the key in her hand, the one Kazuichi had given her. He was still back at the armory so as to not draw any suspicion and provide an excuse for her. Even so, she needed to be quick. She opened the lock and door, entering the room as the door shut behind her.

Her eyes widened at the sight awaiting her...

Ropes were torn everywhere, surrounding Toko's now knocked over chair. Toko was nowhere in sight, but blood was scattered everywhere throughout the room. Lyra did remain, still tied in her chair though ungagged, although there were streaks of crimson running down from her cheek, and upon further inspection, her arms as well. Lyra smiled upon seeing Maki.

"Oh, it's you!!" Lyra said cheerfully, while Maki could only stare. "Figures!"

"What...what happened? Where'd she go?"

"Oh, well, once she woke up, she was really confused, then saw blood on me from when you punched me. Then she passed out," Lyra shrugged, "and when she woke up again, she was all like, 'I only kill young boys and was going to stop you next!' She cut herself loose, and then went to the door-ah, yeah, to unlock it."

"To unlock it-?"

"Yeah, she had already decided to wound me just for fun before that," Lyra tilted her head to the side cheerfully. "Isn't that essentially what you did, too? You should understand...traitor. You're betraying everyone's trust by tying me up here, aren't you? I bet you haven't said a word."

"None of that matters right now. Where'd she go?" Maki tensed up. "She could be harming someone right now...at least I know you're detained."

"Aw, you're not going to release me?" Lyra pouted. "But I had a date planned out for us tomorrow!"

Maki could only glare, and Lyra's laugh grew louder.

"Oh, take a joke, Kiki. Like I could ever think you're interesting enough to like in that way."

As a response, Maki grabbed the gag from the floor and left the room, ignoring Lyra's muffled taunts.

She had a serial killer to catch and put back in her place.