"Good morning you all," Kira greeted the 18 teenagers as they trudged into the lounge

"You fuckers do love to take your sweet time," Ketsueki pointed her sharpened knife at them

"Good morning to you too Ketsueki," Kiibo sat on one of the couches

"Konichuwa! Did you have any sweet dreams?" Kireina waved happily at them

"... They were good," Everyone answered at the same time

"Great!" Kireina smiled even wider, not getting the tone in their voices while the other four looked at each other

"Sooooo, what happened?" Merodi leaned back against the couch, sipping her tea

"Nothing much," Kaede answered, "And it's not any of your business either,"

"Hey, I'm just saying,"

"Is there any food here?" Maki looked around, "I'm so hungry!"

"Shall I make us all breakfast?" Miu offered

"There's food and other stuff over there," Tanoshi lazily pointed across the room

"On it," Miu walked over there

"I'm coming too!" Kokichi ran after her, "I want to eat the batter!"

"He does realise that she's not baking any cakes, right?" Tanoshi watched him run

"He's like that most of the time," Angie told him

"So what are you planning to do today?" Kira stirred the spoon round and round in her coffee

"Ummmm," Maki looked like she was thinking hard, "No idea!"

"Why don't some of you hang out with us today?" Kireina suggested, swinging her legs up against the couch

"Wait, really?!" Shuichi sat up straight

"Not all of you at once!" Merodi told him

"We can all take one at a time," Kira explained to them, "You don't have to spend time with us, but you can if you want to learn something new,"

"Or maybe some good fucking advice on how to survive Danganronpa," Ketsueki smirked

"Whatever it is, we're sure to help you!" Kireina smiled, leaning her head back

"Well we kinda have to because we have to look after the until their season starts," Tanoshi reminded them

"Don't ruin the moment for them," Angie nudged him

"How comes you have to look after us?" Tenko asked them

"Think of us as mentors. You know, like in Hunger Games," Kira answered, "We aren't allowed to give you guys all the secrets and stuff but we have to make sure none of you inflict any injuries before you all die in the game,"

"But I'm sure they won't mind if you have a few scratches on you," Ketsueki chuckled

"And it also means that you'll be seeing us around a lot so don't get so surprised," Merodi finished off

"Are you finished yet?" Kireina asked, "I'm bored now! I want to have fun now!"

"You have the attention span of a 5 year old," Kokichi leaned against the couch

"That's the whole point!"

"Wait, I thought you were with Miu," Kirumi looked at Kokichi

"Oh, she's finished. She made-"

"Pancakes!" Kireina sniffed the air before jumping up and running over to where Miu was, also crashing right into her stomach

"Loli! For god's sake!" Ketsueki picked her up by her jumper, "Be more careful!"

"The pancakes!" Tenko watched the plate along with the pancakes fly into the air

"I got it," Kira leapt up and caught the plate before catching the falling breakfast

"Sorry about that," Merodi sighed, helping Miu up from the floor, "Hope she didn't hurt you,"

"Oh no, I'm fine, honestly," Miu dusted off her clothes

"You guys are an awesome team!" Tsumugi grinned

"I know right," Tanoshi smiled too

"You didn't do anything though," Gonta pointed out

"Just pretend I did,"

"The only reason why we are a good team is because we balance each other out," Kira told them

"It's like Pokemon. You can't have a team of only one type because then you'll be wiped out by that type's weakness," Tanoshi explained

"So, a team of a sadist serial killer, an annoying loli, a lazy ass gamer addict, a musical teenage bitch and a mute escape artist counts as well balanced?" Kokichi raised an eyebrow

"Who the fuck are you calling a bitch?!" Merodi pointed a painted nail at him, looking like she was about to slap him into tomorrow

"Don't worry, he only partially means it," Kaede smirked

"Not helping," Kiibo told her

"Come on now, apologise to Miu," Kira told Kireina

"Mmmm, sorry Iruma-chan..." Kireina's ears drooped as she apologised

"Don't worry, it's fine," Miu smiled at her, "Do you want to have breakfast now?"

"You called me here?" Kaede opened the door to the music room on the 51st floor

Merodi looked up from the music sheets she was looking through,
"Yep I did. Thanks for coming,"

"So why did you only want me to come here?" Kaede stepped inside and closed the door behind her

"Don't touch anything unless I tell you," Merodi instructed, "I don't need to replace any more priceless instruments you know,"

"Yeah yeah, I get it," Kaede rolled her eyes before standing beside the piano Merodi was sitting in front of

"You know, music is a very important aspect of life. It serves many things like entertainment and it is also a very important thing for many people," Merodi sounded like she was about to give a lecture about music

"I get it, just get to the point," Kaede impatiently told her

"Ugh, kids these days," Merodi sighed, "I heard you wanted to be the Ultimate Pianist so I was planning on teaching you,"

"Wait, what?" Kaede looked at her, not really expecting that answer

"You heard me correctly, I want to teach you how to play the piano," Merodi repeated

"Wait, why? Aren't the talents fake and implanted in us? There's no need to actually learn our talents," Kaede told her

"Hey, are you saying my talent is fake?" Merodi scowled slightly, "Well I'm not sure if you can tell or not but my talent of music seems very real to me,"

"Wait, the talents aren't implanted in us?"

"They are when you enter the game but you keep them if you survive," Merodi sighed

"That's actually kinda cool," Kaede admitted, "But still doesn't mean that you have to teach me piano,"

"Stop being so ungrateful will you? You don't know that being taught piano by the Ultimate Musician is such an honour? Many people would love that, regardless if they want to be part of Danganronpa or not. Are you seriously rejecting my offer?" Merodi looked at her dramatically as if she was in a movie

"Jeez, stop with the guilt tripping already," Kaede sat down on the spare piano stool next to her, "Fine, I'll do it,"

"Great, I'll show you the hand positions and teach you the starting note,"

Merodi winced as Kaede pressed the wrong key for the 100th time.

"Seriously, you can't remember where Middle C is?" She asked her, "This is the first thing you learn!"

"No! They all look exactly the same!" Kaede shouted back at her

"The C key is the one next to B and D Flat!" Merodi moved Kaede's hand so her thumb was on the C key

"Can't you just mark it down for me?!"

"And ruin this priceless grand piano? Fuck no!"

"This is stupid! I don't have any musical talent what so ever! I only signed myself up as the Ultimate Pianist because my friends suggested it!" Kaede sighed, slamming down on random keys

"Stop that! You're making my ears bleed!"

"I give up! Just let them implant the talent in me and let it be done with!"

Fed up with the words coming out of her mouth, Merodi took hold of Kaede's shoulders and shook her lightly

"Do you even know what you're saying right now?! You give up? So that's what you do when you're stuck in a killing game? When all your friends are dying and you're picked off one by one, you give up?" she shouted at her

"Wait, that's not what I said-"

"But that's what you're implying, right? If you give up on playing the goddamn piano then you're definitely gonna give up when life gets too difficult for you. Grow up already and learn to have some resilience! Because right now from the way you're acting, you're gonna end up as the Chapter 1 victim,"

Merodi took a deep breath as she let her words sink into Kaede. She let go of her shoulders and placed them on her lap like before.

"Now then, let's carry on,"

"So how did you manage to survive Danganronpa?" Kaede asked Merodi as she tried maintaining the proper hand positions for the piano

"Imagine there's a mouse under your hand, that's how you do it," Merodi explained to her before sighing, "I survived because I hid behind other people's backs. I was too much of a little pussy to actually stand up and fight. While the other survivors actually contributed in the season's end, I was just there,"

"Right. I remember, despite your sharp tongue, you always stayed by your boyfriend's side," Kaede recalled

"Yeah. My Danganronpa season wasn't really my best moment," Merodi admitted, "But hey, sometimes things don't go out as you plan them to,"

"Right," Kaede looked back at the music sheet in front of her which contained a small, simple song, "So C, then D, then E and back to C..."

"There, attagirl! You finally did it!" Merodi smiled at her, "What did I tell you? Don't give up when things get difficult,"

"Thanks Merodi," Kaede smiled slightly back at her

"You know what, how about you be my little successor?"

"Your what? You're not even 20 yet,"

"Yeah but still. You go into your season as the Ultimate Pianist and show them how good your playing is," Merodi grinned, already imagining it, "You then tell everyone that you got your talent from me, the best of the best of musicians,"

"Wasn't there Ibuki Mioda who was also the Ultimate Musician?" Kaede raised an eyebrow

"Well yeah but she's old AF right now," Merodi waved the comment away, "But you can also correct my mistakes too, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can correct the mistakes I made when I was in Danganronpa. You can do everything I didn't. Sounds good?"

"Yeah. I'll do that for the both of us,"