✧ Chapter 26 ✧
[ Crying Out to No One ]
✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

"I pushed Mikan!" Mondo exclaimed as everyone looked at him with a mixture of horror and disbelief. The boy was just clenching his right fist into a tight ball while facing the laughing Monokuma.

The bear just continued to laugh even after five minutes of silence had passed, "It's about time! Man, I was getting so bored!"

"Wait- what?!" Ishimaru sputtered, "What do you mean? How?"

Mondo glared at Monokuma, unable to face Ishimaru or Chihiro, "I received a note that Mikan was plotting something. And of course, I went to confront her."

"M-Me?" the girl whimpered, "But- I didn't do anything! I swear!"

Mondo glared at her and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was a simple yellow paper, with letters from a newspaper pasted on it to form words. It was smart, since that way, no one could figure out any handwriting.

'Mikan Tsumiki is plotting someone against your friends. Stop her!' the words read.

"So do you blame me for getting suspicious?" Mondo demanded, gripping the paper tightly, "Although I must admit.." he looked down at the ground, "I broke a promise.. I never should've pushed her."

"Owada.." Ishimaru muttered, sounding defeated. "No.. I don't want to believe it!"

"Sorry boy-o!" Monokuma sang cheerfully, sitting up on his seat, "You heard it straight from the person himself! He's involved in our false alarm! So.." the bear cleared his throat.

"Mondo Owada, the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader will be punished along with Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse!"

"No.. NO!" Chihiro yelled as Mondo hung his head, defeated. The girl seemed completely shocked at the turn of events. "Mondo! This.. this is wrong! This was never supposed to happen!"

"You." Shuichi flinched, when he heard a new voice from his left.

He tore his eyes away from the crying Ishimaru and faced the one and only Gundham Tanaka. He towered over him, as per usual, but something was wrong. There was worry in the other's mismatched eyes.

"Tanaka-?" Shuichi frowned, wondering why did the older male call him.

"..." Gundham looked down at Shuichi for a moment before wordlessly gesturing for him to follow. "Leave your friend behind," Gundham said quietly just as Kaede was about to join them. "It won't do if there are others around who can draw attention to our conversation."

Shuichi was about to protest when Kaede just nodded understandably. "It's alright, go on and talk to Gundham, Shuichi, I'll be right here."

Gundham gave Kaede a disapproving sigh before promptly leading Shuichi out of the gymnasium to talk.

"I wish you can make the naive girl stop saying my forbidden name." Gundham huffed once they were outside.

"Um.. is that all you wanted to tell me?" Shuichi asked meekly, since he had never really talked to the older male very much. Unless he counted that strange incident of Tanaka standing outside his room, that is.

"What? No, you blunt fool. I just wanted to inform you of something rather.. peculiar. You seem to be a reliable individual. And furthermore, you are the Ultimate Detective, are you not?"

"Uh.. first of all, thank you?" Shuichi scratched the back of his neck, wondering if that was a compliment or not. "Secondly, why didn't you ask Kirigiri? She's a Detective too."

Gundham just gave him a rather fierce stare, "But you're more naive. And this concerns you, so it seems. Cham-P. The paper please."

Shuichi watched as a hamster poked its head out of the magenta scarf Gundham was wearing. It handed its owner a piece of paper before darting back into the folds. "Here it is," the taller male said as if it was completely normal, "I think this will clear everything."

Shuichi looked down at the paper he had handed to him.

"To Gundham Tanaka. I have your precious little San-D, as you call it. If you want your rodent back, keep an eye out on Shuichi Saihara for me."

Shuichi looked up at him, wondering why was Gundham showing this to him. It was just like the paper Mondo had received. Newspaper cutouts and all.

"You have your hamster back, don't you?" Shuichi asked timidly as the older nodded curtly, "Yes, I do. Only you and Princess Sonia know of this. She is on the lookout for anyone suspicious."

"And it seems that... a certain well located in the school's ground garden has something to do with this. If you have the time, check it out." Gundham advised him.

"But why are you telling me this? Can I trust you?" Shuichi asked, feeling doubtful.

"You fool," Gundham muttered, wrinkling his nose slightly, "Of course you can trust me, the power of the Gods of The Nine Gates have blessed me. No being of the Underworld can get away with such a threat as this."

Shuichi raised an eyebrow, but nodded, "Um.. alright. Thanks for the clue anyway, Gundham."

The latter sighed, running a hand through his rather stylish hair, "I really wish you'd stop saying my name. It's disgraceful. Names have power!"

"..." Shuichi just stared at him and slowly slipped back to the gym, clutching the paper in his hand. He had to tell Kaede about this of course. Maybe they could check up on Ouma as well... after all, he was their classmate..

His heart leapt slightly when he thought about the unconscious Kokichi. He was still sleeping, even after days of rest. The cuts all over his arms and legs were healing of course, but he just couldn't wake up. Shuichi honestly hoped he could wake soon. Just so he could solve this mystery with the small guy.

Because even Ouma seemed to be withholding information.

✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

[ Hallway ]

The small purple haired boy coughed, holding a hand up against the wall as he struggled to walk. It just occured to him who he needed to talk to. Of course. The answer was right under his nose the whole time, but he just didn't put the pieces together.

"Stupid Ouma," he chided himself as he stumbled along the hallway of the school. It seemed to be deserted, save for the few teachers who didn't give him a second glance. "Of course you didn't think about this."

He held his hand, which was still sending tiny shocks of pain up to his shoulder. That traitor with the Monokuma hoodie... Keebo's messages and warnings.. everything seemed messy and confusing but he believed it will all just come together in the end.

"Mahiru!" he called as soon as he saw the girl exit the photography lab. It was a simple room, which he didn't go into since he wasn't fond of photography. The whole prospect just bored him.

The red haired girl spun around, looking for the source of the call. Kokichi sighed, wondering if girls were that dumb, "Over here."

As soon as the girl saw him, she gave him a small, worried smile. "Good Afternoon, Kokichi." she pulled at the edge of her camera strap, fiddling around with it out of habit rather than nervousness.

Kokichi took a deep breath, putting on his facade and starting his act. "Afternoon to you, Ronald Mcdonald," he smirked, "I just wanted to ask you a few questions... do you have time for that?"

"Uh.. sure I do," she rolled her eyes at the nickname, much to his surprise, "And I really wish you'd stop calling me that. You and your clown.. thing. Anyway, what do you need?" She didn't seem very nervous around him.

Kokichi knew that the girl was shy around others, but apparently her time with Hiyoko had boosted her confidence. So much that she could actually tolerate his teasing and snarky comments. Impressive.

Kokichi was hoping that would be the same with Shuichi and himself. That he would be the one to boost the emo guy's confidence one day.

"Have you been taking pictures and sending them off for the school's newspapers?" he asked, jumping straight to the questions. He didn't want to beat around the bush any longer. That would drive him insane! Additionally, the bandages wrapped around his arms were starting to itch.

"What?" Mahiru looked slightly offended. "You think I've been the one who's been sending these to Monokuma?" she gestured to a bulletin board beside them, which was laden with photographs of each arrest so far.

"Well, technically," he made a see-saw hand gesture, "Since you're the Ultimate Photographer, am I right?"

The girl frowned, "Just because I'm the Ultimate Photographer, doesn't mean no one else can take photographs, Ouma. And for the record, no. I'm not a traitor."

Kokichi was surprised to hear the genuine truth.. he was so sure Mahiru had something to do with the case but surprisingly.. she didn't. "Then do you know who's been doing this?" he asked her.

The girl shook her head, "Sorry, I don't.."

Kokichi raised his hand to his mouth and bit his thumbnail, thinking. It was a habit, but he always did it just for the fun of it. Who could be the one taking the photographs if Mahiru was really telling the truth?

The red haired girl was about to say something, but suddenly looked past his shoulder. Kokichi instinctively turned around, his eyes immediately drawn to the crowd of people surrounding a very familiar figure.

✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

[ Monokuma Theatre ]

Heya kiddos! Kudos to that fancy Mondo man and clumsy Mikan! What? You think they're NOT dead just because the camera didn't film their death?! That's insulting! Of course they're dead!

Boo.. I even have Mondo butter and Mikan's guts to show ya the evidence...

Like, really? These deaths are sooo unoriginal?! OI WRITER! *kicks screen* WHEN ARE YA GONNA SPICE IT UP? Jeez, your writing is terrible! Anyway, don't bother, as per usual, I don't wanna spoil too much of this longgggg story, cause I hope it's gonna get better. Pray for whoever's writing this.. whoever they are, they gotta step up their game!

I'm talking murders! And backstabbing! And traitors! And mysterious people! Make it better!

So ya know the drill, vote, comment, share, whatever. Cause at this rate this dumb writer is goin' we're never gonna see fun stuff! And I live for your entertainment after all, right?

This is Danganronpa we're talkin' about! The fun will never end!

See ya chumps around, and don't forget to use your hollow noggins and figure who the traitors are! That's right! Even the worst traitors are the ones right under yer nose! Why, your best friend can be a traitor!

Just sayin- eh? Am I saying too much? Aww.. alright.

Just one thing I wanna clear up, ya know. It has come to my attention that some of ya are confused about the eye colours. Lemme see.. oh yeah!

The traitors have magenta eyes when they're working under MY name! Which means.. upupupu.. they'll have normal eye colours when they're doing THEIR EVERDAY LIVES! ISNT THAT CONFUSING ENOUGH? Oh... wait and see..

Well, sayonara you lazy butts, and thank ya for votin'! And comment who you think the traitor is! Cause y'all never knowwwww!! I must say, this story is going to get a lot worse.

♥ End of Chapter Twenty-Six ♥