A Proposal

Daphne spotted her door and opened it, and was met by a nice little room, as if it were a mask to cover up the horror that happened in the place. Wearily, she walked to her desk and inspected the things on her table: a Monopad, a sewing kit, a few rolls of fabric, some paper, some pencil, an eraser, and a sharpener.

Carefully putting the rest of the things aside, she picked up the Monopad and turned it on. Sure enough, there were two icons, one with a camera and the other with a list. Daphne clicked on the list icon. On the screen, words popped up.

{Hope's Peak Academy School Rules}

[Students are not allowed to leave school grounds before being released]

[Violence against Monokuma, Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, will not be tolerated]

[Students must stay in their own rooms at night, which is from 11 pm to 6 am unless attempting a murder]

[All students must attend the Class Trials]

[All students must vote in the Class Trials]

[No more than one murder is permitted at a time]

[If a Motivation has been given, a student must die in 48 hours]

[Monopads may only be used by their respective students]

[No more than two students are allowed to collaborate on one murder]

Breaking any rule stated above will result in Punishment.

More rules might be added along the way.

Daphne committed the rules to memory before quickly taking a picture of her items. If someone were to steal her things, she could find who did it and prove they were actually hers. Keeping the Monopad in her drawer, she took a bath before changing into fresh clothes. She didn't want to imagine how Monokuma had managed to guess her clothes size perfectly. Daphne was examining her things when there was a knock on her door. Since Monokuma had ordered it, no one could kill each other on the first night. Still, she was wary, so she hid away all her things. Once that was done, she got up and unlocked and opened her door.

On the other side, Eli stood there. Giving her a light wave, he stepped into her room. After settling into one of the chairs in her room, she asked, "Why are you here?" Daphne had watched enough Danganronpa to know that some players might enter students' rooms early to get the layout of their room.

"I'm here to propose a partnership."

"A partnership? like us teaming up?" When she got a nod from Eli, Daphne paused for a moment. Why had Eli asked her? While being the Ultimate Designer was good, it was most likely not the strongest Ultimate talent. And since Eli had been the one who introduced who the other students were to her, he most likely knew their Ultimate talents.

As if reading her mind, Eli said, "When you woke up and went to the dining hall, you obviously knew where we were as well, but you didn't panic or break down. The rest of the players either freaked out, raged, or just shut down. Well, there were some that didn't, but you handled the news better than the rest."

"Really?" Daphne thought back to how the students looked when she walked into the dining hall. "They all seemed fine."

"You just missed Jared and his temper tantrum. He screamed like crazy, yelling for Monokuma to let him go. He only stopped because an arrow flew out of nowhere and nearly killed him. He shut up after that."

"I see. Still, surely my Ultimate talent isn't the best you could get? I mean, the Ultimate Samurai seems much better than my Ultimate."

"Not really," Eli shrugged. "If you think about it, being the Ultimate Samurai means his specialty is blades. That's not really good for much except killing, and if it was too professional, Harime would be the main suspect. However, your talent is passive. It isn't aggressive, and it could be useful in helping out others. At the same time, you could recreate someone else's clothes and frame them for being a murderer. Also, I've interacted with you more than any of the other players, and so I trust you the most out of everyone. That is why I'm proposing a partnership between us."

Daphne blinked. "You sure did a lot of thought about this."

Eli shrugged again. "Before this, apart from tending to plants, I enjoyed escape rooms and mystery stories. And I've watched Danganronpa quite a lot to analyze the killing method of players, as well as how they tried to get away and how they messed up."

Daphne felt a shiver run up her spine. Despite his impassive look, she had a feeling that there was more to Eli than meets the eye. She considered the offer. She knew she could take care of herself, but she wasn't the type to kill unless provoked or coerced. Also, Eli seemed to know a lot about how to survive Danganronpa and how to come up with alibis and figure things out. At least, he seemed to know what he was doing. Making up her mind, she answered, "Yes. I accept your proposal."

Eli gave her a light smile. "I'm glad." Holding out his hand, Daphne took it, sealing their partnership with a handshake.

"Now that that's done," Eli reached into a small sling bag he had, pulling out his Monopad and opening the gallery. "These are the items that I received. What about you?"

Daphne looked at the picture. There were a few vials of strangely colored liquid, a potted plant that looked like aloe vera, a small pair of shears, a notepad, some pencils, an eraser, and a sharpener. She pulled out her Monopad, snapping a picture of Eli's picture before showing Eli her own things.

"Hmm," Eli hummed, his eyes gleaming slightly.

Daphne allowed Eli to take a picture of her things. They talked a little bit, before Daphne said, "You should go back to your room. It's almost 11 pm."

Giving a nod, Eli answered, "Good night, Daphne. I hope that we'll both survive until the end."

Once Eli had left, Daphne locked her eyes and then flopped onto her bed, shutting her eyes. She was exhausted. She had been trying to stay safe from Danganronpa, but it had done nothing to help. Now, she was trapped in this killing game. Sighing, she blocked out her mind and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.