Chapter 12

"Motivation to kill?" asked Maki.

"In short, a motive! That will add some mystery to the killing proceedings. Even if a killer kills someone, they could come up with a sob story to deceive everyone."

"What are you saying? Your logic is incomprehensible!" said Keebo.

"And now, I will announce the first motive! Open your ears and listen closely!" said Monokuma loudly in an oppressive manner, "The first motive I prepared is The First Blood Perk! For the first murder, there will be no class trial to be held! It means the first one to kill someone will graduate immediately! Can you believe how generous I am?"

"No class trial?" asked Maki with a surprised face, which was rare to see since Maki almost wore an expressionless face every time.

"That's right! That's why please just relax, calm down, and kill! First come first serve!" said Monokuma while laughing maniacally.

"Huh? That's all? We just need to kill someone to get outta here?" muttered Miu, though her voice was shaking.

"What do you mean 'that's all'? Please calm down!" rebutted Keebo, reprimanding the nuance behind Miu's words.

He got us. Now that we have given up the tunnel as a way to escape, everyone was more desperate to get out. This motive was prepared to maximize that desperation. Now that everyone knew their life won't be at risk after killing someone, it was more likely for a killing game to happen.

And even if we decided not to kill anyone, the fear of anyone could come to kill us would eventually become unbearable. We would start to suspect each other. This motive was perfect if he wanted to prevent us from cooperating with each other. After that, it's only a matter of time before everyone fell apart. What a cruel and calculative move, but at the same time, clever and crafty.

"First Blood Perk?! Stop making it sound like a game bonus!" said Tenko while pointing at Monokuma.

"Puhuhuhu. You said that, but I bet you're secretly happy, right?"

"There is no way I am happy about this!"

With a face full of anger, Kaede glared at Monokuma. "Stop messing around, do you think this is funny?"

"Huh?" Monokuma tilted his head.

"You think I'd kill someone just to get out? Never! We're not gonna lose to you! We promised each other we'd escape from this place together!"

"Puhuhuhu. Spare me your bravado. Rather than wasting your energy doing that, you should just focus on surviving. You just need to kill someone to get out, you know?"

"Why... you bastard!" Kaito gritted his teeth in anger. He appeared like he could lunge at Monokuma anytime.

"Kaito, calm down. Don't be provoked by him. That's what he wants," I squeezed his arm, trying to hold him in his place as strong as I could.

"Gh!"

I could feel Kaito was doing his very best to restrain himself. It's not like I don't understand him, but the risk of going against Monokuma directly was too high. I stared at Monokuma coldly, "What are you trying to achieve by doing this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Gathering Ultimates here, making us go up and down with hope and despair, expectation and anxiety, life and death? There is no way a robot controlled by a sick person like you will just let us go that easily. You never planned to let any of us go in the first place, right?"

"Oh? What makes you so sure?" said Monokuma with an amused expression.

"You put us against each other like this, because you can't do anything to us directly. That's why you dislike seeing us cooperating with each other. That's precisely why you come up with this motive. Because you don't want us to cooperate, lest it would interfere with your plan!

The rules said that the two surviving students will graduate and win this game, but how do we know it's not just another hidden agenda? You can't possibly risk the surviving students exposing you after they graduate, so who can guarantee that killing someone else is the correct answer to win this game? How can we be so sure that it will end with just us "graduating"? So tell me, what is your true purpose?"

I spat all of my ideas on the spot. Perhaps deep down, I was always afraid. I acted brave and calm, but I was trembling inside.

The truth is, I never wanted to be a part of this. I wanted to run so badly. I was sick and tired of people controlling my life!

Monokuma stood still for a while, just staring at me, and then he let out an eerie laugh, "Puhu...Puhuhuhu...Puhuhuhuhu".

"Hey, what's so funny?! You don't have anything to rebut that?" asked Kaito.

"Puhuhuhuhu. Ah sorry about that, I am just hearing the most boring thing I can't help but laugh at how boring it is."

"What?"

"I see that's what you think. But you are still too naive. I said it before, but I am the God of this world. The life and death of a puny little existence like you are easily crushed, easily replaceable, stupidly fragile!" Monokuma's red eyes shine dangerously, while he is baring his claws at me, "And puny existence like you can't even hope to go against me. You are just trying to make excuses to make you feel better. I advise you to throw out your useless ideas and face the reality in front of you. I told you, you guys are meant to kill each other here, and that's final! And the last one standing will become the winner and graduate! To graduate means escape. A bear never lies!"

No, I didn't think I was wrong at all. But what he said was bugging me. If the goal was to kill us, then why didn't he just do so? With Exisals, it'd be very easy to wipe us out instantly. But he deliberately gathered us here, created this academy, just to make us kill each other? It's just too fishy. There were too many holes left unanswered. If I waited a bit more, would the answers reveal themselves?

"The only thing you need to do is simple. It's obvious from the start! Kill them before you get killed. Eat or to be eaten. It's the way of classic survival. To not even realize that, you guys are so slow. Puhuhuhu."