The next morning, the students met in the dining hall for breakfast.

A couple of students were missing; Byakuya, Toko, Lyra, and Nico. None of them were anywhere in sight, but no one could particularly claim to care too much.

"How are you feeling, Maki?" Shuichi asked. Maki just sighed.

"...I'm fine. I just...I'm shocked that she even managed to do that in the first place," Maki admitted as rubbed where Lyra had punched her. A large bruise had formed on her face. "...It's been quite awhile since anyone has managed to hurt me. But don't worry...I'm still okay to take her out. She only got me because she must have known it was coming. I'll just have to be extra careful-"

"No, no! That's not what we meant!" Tanya exclaimed, trying to keep a bright smile on her face despite what had happened yesterday. "I don't want you to hurt yourself. Besides, I don't think any of us should endanger ourselves to Lyra...we don't know what she's capable of."

"She needs to die," Maki's fists were clenched tightly. "She's planning to kill us all. If I have to die to save you all...I will."

"There has to be another way," Aoi sighed. "But what...?"

"Um...I don't know if this is relevant, but Monokuma said that the next floor of the school opened up," Hiro's hands were running through his long dreadlocks. "We should probably go explore..."

"...Is it even safe?" Kazuichi asked. "I'll protect you, Miss Sonia...but I don't know about everyone else."

"Why does our safety even need to be in question...?" Himiko couldn't help but wonder dejectedly. "Why do people have to be like this...?"

"I think as long as we all explore on the same floor, we'll be fine," Hajime said. "I don't think anyone is bold enough to kill while we're all right there. So let's just all head up together, alright?"

"Yes, that is fine. I still think we should travel in groups, however," Sonia suggested. "Just to be safe."

"Sounds good! Miss Sonia, would you like to go together again-"

"Perhaps we should try and separate for the time being."

"Oh, okay..." Kazuichi sighed. "T-Then lets make teams, I guess..."

"Alright. We'll all meet up when we're done!"

<><><>

"There is a pool! Aoi, come and look!"

Sonia excitedly pointed to the pool, hoping she could at the very least cheer one person up. Aoi's features brightened considerably as she sprinted to the doors.

"Yes! This is the best!" Aoi cheered as she threw open the doors. There were two entrances; one door marked with a pink icon and another with a blue. "We've gotta go right in!"

"Ah, hold it!" Monokuma suddenly popped out of nowhere, a grin on his robotic features. "Your E-Handbook opens the room according to your gender. Just so you know, there's a tracker inside the pool that tracks who opened the locker room with an E-handbook and at what time! Pretty neat, right??"

"Yeah, whatever..." Aoi just ignored Monokuma, who pouted before disappearing. "Okay, let's go in!"

"Uh, yeah. I'll meet you guys on the other side," Shuichi couldn't help but blush before he took out his own E-handbook and opened the boy's locker room. Workout equipment was littered all over the room, and Shuichi was careful not to trip over anything as he made his way to the actual pool.

Aoi and Sonia were already waiting for him on the other side. They were admiring the layout of the pool; a gorgeous square of water sat right in the middle with a high up window overlooking the pool. Beams were still situated over the pool. A separate room was shut to the side, and a sheet of rules was plastered on the door. A record of who had entered the locker room was indeed present.

"Rules...Swim at your own risk, the storage room is locked at night, put everything back where you found it," Aoi read off. "Huh. Pretty short rule list!"

"I am assuming that is the storage room," Sonia pointed to the shut doors, where they quickly pulled them open. Inside was just a bunch of pool materials as well as inflatables and swimming equipment. "Huh. This looks like it may enhance our time here! We could all swim together."

"I'd love to think that, but I don't think we'll
be getting along anytime soon with Byakuya or Lyra," Shuichi sighed. "We can dream, though."

"Yeah. I'm sure the pool will help us all bond!"

<><><>

"I gotta say, I hate chemistry. I failed this class so much..."

Hiro couldn't help but voice his utter disdain for the subject as they walked into the chemistry lab. The walls were a shade of gray and were filled with rows of safety goggles and containers. A massive cabinet sat in the middle of the room behind the white experiment tables. As Hiro waited for an answer to the question Hajime and Kazuichi had already forgotten, Hajime struggled to find an answer.

"I mean, it was alright," Hajime opened up the large cabinet in the middle of the room. "Oh, hey. Look, ingredients...what? Poison!?"

"Gah! I don't even know why I'm surprised!" Kazuichi just groaned. "We should just smash these bottles."

"No, we can't," Hiro sighed. "The rules say we can't destroy school property."

"Monokuma is a sick freak," Hajime said bitterly before he began to read off some of the warnings for the poisons. "Burns clothing material if spilled, this one smells like strawberries but one sip kills, this one sedates and kills the drinker? These all sound so awful.."

"...What if Byakuya and Lyra get ahold of this thing?" Kazuichi panicked. "This looks 'bout as dangerous as the armory. What are we gonna do?"

"What can we really do against that? We can't have someone guard the armory and here every single day," Hajime said. "Is there a way to lock it?"

"Um...nope," Hiro said after scanning the cabinet. "Great...anyone is gonna have access to poison at any point in time, and all that's gonna await us is chaos when another kill happens!"

Silence. Hiro had wanted someone to disagree..unfortunately, he was talking to the wrong crowd.

"The best thing we can do is prepare," Hajime paused. "Look at how quick Janelle was to jump on the killing opportunity. None of us were ready, physically or mentally. We can't...forget the possibility of murder."

"What if one of you are planning to kill me?" Kazuichi's eyes shifted suspiciously from side to side. "All of these weapons are available..!"

"With all of this, it may be impossible to stop a murder," Hajime couldn't help but voice his suspicions. "We're gonna need someone to stick around here and the armory at all times."

"That's simply impossible, though..."

"...Could you make a lock to put on these doors?" Hajime asked Kazuichi, who nodded.

"I'm sure, yeah. That'll work! I hope that's not against the rules."

"Yeah...okay, let's get to work. We've got to stop people at all costs!"

<><><>

"...Bathrooms. Wow. That's the most interesting fuckin' part of the second floor."

Fuyuhiko's sarcasm was lost on both Tanya and Himiko, who just stood there in a kind of wonderment. Bewildered as to just why they were acting so strange, Fuyuhiko snapped.

"What? What's so crazy?"

"...There are no bathrooms on the first floor. Why do we need 'em here?" Tanya just questioned, her stormy gray eyes wide. "What's the point?"

"Probably so that you don't have to walk all the way down to the first floor just for a bathroom...and if you have to go, you can go to the bathroom in your dorm," Himiko explained. "I know that because of...magic..."

"Yeah, okay. That talk is gettin' fucking old as hell," Fuyuhiko grumbled. "So there's bathrooms on this floor. Big deal. Let's keep exploring around here."

"Do you think we need E-Handbooks to enter, like how we need them to open the locker rooms?" Tanya asked. Before anyone could respond, she impulsively reached for the women's door and swung it open. Nothing happened; no alarms, no ringing, no random decapitation. Nothing. "I think we're good!"

"Nyeh...? You're so lucky that nothing bad happened," Himiko said. "What if something happened and Monokuma didn't tell us?"

"...He would tell us. I'm fuckin' sure of it," Fuyuhiko just muttered. "Can we please move on now?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Of all the people to get paired up with, it's these two..."

<><><>

"Maki...are you sure you're really okay?"

Makoto couldn't help but be concerned for the assassin who had been punched square in the face. Despite the bruise on her face, Maki showed no the signs of damage, not even the slightest sign of even damaged pride.

"Yes...but are you?"

"What?" Makoto asked.

"...Kyoko seemed to be pretty important to you,"
Maki said quietly. "We might not have remembered her, but...she was still someone we could have possibly known before. Are you alright?"

"...I have to be. I'll remember her forever, even though I don't know who she was to me..." Makoto sighed. "We just have to be prepared to stop any murders."

"I know. I'll take Lyra down. I've just got to be ready for her next time. She won't get away so easily."

"Hah! I'll help you out with that," Akane said recklessly. "We'll take her down with ease. She just got lucky, that's all!"

"I don't think that much raw power can be attributed to just luck," Makoto sighed. "I don't know where she got that much strength, but I don't think we should challenge her-"

"No, I can take her. I promise," Maki said as they all entered classroom 2-A. "She saw me coming. I don't care how much raw strength she has, she can't fight what she doesn't see."

"That's fair...but you're not going to kill her, right?" Makoto asked hopefully. He didn't get a response, which immediately began to make him panic. "You can't do that. I'm sure we can reason it out with her."

"Huh? Why would ya think that?" Akane stuck her finger in her ear. "You didn't think that with By...Byron?"

"Byakuya," Makoto corrected. "Lyra showed a side of kindness. I think she's just going through something!"

"...That kindness you saw was nothing but a mask. The people I assassinate all have one of their own, trust me...I know what that looks like."

"You're probably right about that, but...I can't help but feel like she's not that awful..."

"I mean, I've also seen some pretty terrible people where I grew up," Akane shrugged. "Not all of them tipped me off until it was too late. Lyra's just one'a those. Let's quit talkin' about her and get some food, I'm starvin'!"

"Hey, look! There's Aoi, Sonia, and Shuichi," Makoto suddenly pointed to a side of the wall that had a long window over it's top half. The window only took up half the wall vertically, and it overlooked the pool area. "This is a pretty random window..."

"Puhuhu! Yes it is," Monokuma suddenly popped out of nowhere like usual. None of the students could claim to be surprised by his presence. "But you know what's cool? It's super difficult to unlock! But I'll show you guys so you can say hi to your friends. So you flip this switch, turn it ninety degrees to your left, knock on the window eight times, and then you can slide it open from the top. Seeeeeeeee?"

Monokuma followed his directions and slid open the window.

"Alright! See ya punks later!" Monokuma disappeared as Akane stuck her head through the window. The window was much too small, and she ended up getting stuck on her large chest.

"Hey, Aoi, Sonia, Shuichi!" Akane hollered. "Nice to see ya!"

"Oh, hello!" Sonia waved along with the others. Maki just remained quiet as Makoto wondered why in the world the window was even there. Once Akane was done conversing, she closed the window. It instantly locked once more.

"What an intricate lock. And for what...?" Makoto pondered. Why...?"

<><><>

While everyone else was out exploring, a certain ballerina had already finished looking around the new floor as everyone somehow managed to avoid Lyra at all costs.

One person hadn't been quite so lucky.

"Helllllllllllo Nicooooooo~!"

Nico's immediate action was to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the hallway she ran down...led to a dead end. As Lyra cornered her against the wall, Nico's heart beat faster and faster. Was this the time where she had to do it...?

"A-Are you going to kill me?"

"Hm...We'll see. Everyone has betrayed me, so we all do deserve to die," Lyra smiled widely before her grin faded. "...But why does the thought of your death sound abhorrent right now?"

Nico remained silent and still on edge. Lyra was unpredictable, and Nico couldn't afford to let her guard down. Not when Lyra had admitted multiple times she'd try to kill everyone.

"You don't speak much, do you?" Lyra chuckled as she eyed Nico's defensive state. "Aw, don't worry, Nico. I'm not going to kill you. No, I have a much simpler task...which is to ask you a question. What's up with the hood?"

"My-" Nico subconsciously immediately pulled the hood further over her head, her face turning pink and panicked. "N-Nothing-! Nothing-"

"Ohhhhhh, that....sounds like a lie."

"I-It's not!!"

"You know, I really don't care what's under your hood. You should just show me!"

"N-N-No!"

"Ohhhhh, so it is something about your hood," Lyra giggled giddily. "You know, I bet none of us will care. It's not like whatever is under your hood could betray me, so it certainly can't be that bad."

Nico remained silent once more. She knew she shouldn't trust anything Lyra said, but hearing those comforting words was admittedly nice to hear. However, Nico couldn't afford to let down her guard and just die here...

"...G-Go away, Lyra."

"Awww. You don't mean that. Well, let's go explore the school together!" Lyra grabbed Nico before linking them together by the arm. "Aren't you excited??"

"...V-Very."

<><><>

"So you've got an alter ego. That's...interesting. You make it sound like it takes all this effort to detain it. Pathetic. It just comes whenever you sneeze. That's not effort..."

"O-O-Originally I w-was able to c-control her e-even when I s-sneezed, b-but now she just pops up during that and only that..." Toko fiddled with her fingers nervously as she spoke with Byakuya. "I-I really did have to c-contain her before, I-I promise! I'm not lying."

"Really? Then what changed?"

"M...My writing."

"What? That makes no sense."

"E-Er, never mind. I t-told you that you wouldn't believe me!" Toko growled. "...But there you have it. My other half..."

"Genocide Jill...Your existence is rather...interesting."

"I hate her! I hate her, I hate her, I hate her! I just wake up, and I don't even know what happened..."

"Huh. I see. And this only happens when you sneeze?" Byakuya raised a brow. She nodded. "Then this conversation was not an incredible waste of time."

"Master..."

"Don't call me that."

"Y-Yes! Yes sir."