Chapter 1: Dreams of A Long Forgotten War (Daily Life)

(This is Chapter 1 of the Gates of Mars [aka my version of the Gates of Mars]! This is the Daily Life section of Dreams of A Long Forgotten War!)

* Chapter 1: Dreams of A Long Forgotten War (Daily Life) *

After her announcement, Mono-Peko led the group inside the building from which they had woken up.

Mono-Peko: (calm) This is where the Killing Mars Life will take place - a space station.

The space station's walls were smoothing pink and blue, but the floors were another story. They were an garish pattern of green, black, fuchsia and Pantone 448 C.

Tenko: Ugh… This place is disgusting…

Kiyotaka: It looks disgusting too!

Tanaka: Why are you holding us here out of all places?

Mono-Peko: Just for the appearance!

Mono-Peko led the group down a corridor, the wallpaper of which was pale purple and the floors were dark blue.

There were 16 doors in the room. Each door had a pixel version of one of the Ultimates on it, along with a name plate.

Mono-Peko: These are your bedrooms. You're not allowed to sleep anywhere besides your bedroom without violating a rule. If you violate a rule, you'll get shot. You see, we've got cameras everywhere! Cameras programmed to open fire on you if you violate one of our previous rules!

Mono-Peko pointed at a security camera wired to a pole. A Gatling gun was at the very top of the pole.

Soda: I think something's up.

Mono-Peko: What?

Soda: You don't look like a human, Mono-Peko. You look more like a robot.

Mono-Peko: A robot? That is an accurate description. I'm a high tech one. You've gotta find my controller aka the Mastermind aka the one forcing you to participate in this horrendous situation!

Ibuki: Nobody's gonna kill!

Mono-Peko: This is a Killing Game! By the way, take these!

Mono-Peko threw things that either fell into their hands or were caught. They were red, yellow, green, blue and pink touch screen devices, and when Mikan and the rest of the participants pressed the button, it showed the rules of the game as well as stats about each student. It showed everyone's height, weight, likes, and dislikes, and birthdays.

Mono-Peko: These are the Kub Pads!

Mikan opened her door.

Her bedroom's walls were black and had a white floor, along with light pink bedsheets on a bed. Mikan got into her pajamas and lay down on the bed, sighing. This was going to be a long night.

***

The next day…

* Ding Dong! *

Mono-Peko: Good morning sleepy heads! It's 9 am and your first beautiful day on Mars has begun!

Mikan's eyes creaked opened as she practically fell out of bed.

After getting dressed and breakfast, she ran over, only to see a door, next to which Rantaro was standing.

[Talk to Rantaro?

No

Yes ✔️]

Rantaro: Mikan!

Mikan: Do you want to talk about songs?

Rantaro: Yes.

Mikan: What songs have you written?

Rantaro: I first wrote a song called "Shine". Since then, I have written roughly a dozen more songs.

Mikan: Have any of those songs been stolen?

Rantaro: (gravely) Yes. Three to be more precise. They stole "Roar," "Hello World" and "Ugly Beautiful" for a movie called "Back to the Outback." I watched it. It's bad.

Mikan: It's bad?

Rantaro: Yes. It's probably the worst film on Netflix.

Mikan: Are you okay about your songs being stolen?

Rantaro: No! I am not okay!

(Rantaro's report card has been updated on your experience with him)

***

A day later, Mikan was walking down a corridor when she reached a corridor where everyone and Mono-Peko was standing.

Mono-Peko: I behold your first motive!

Soda: Please explain about this "motive".

Mono-Peko: You must have played Danganronpa! Motives were incentives presented by Monokuma as major drives for Killing Game participants to start the killing during the Daily Life, and these motives were cruel and unavoidable. And they always, always worked to make people kill. Alternatively, motives were the reasons the blackened had for killing people which they would reveal during the class trial section of the Deadly Life. Anyways, your first motive is… 'The Best Friend Motive!'

Monophanie: The Best Friend Motive is basically…

Monosuke: IF-YOU-KILL-AND-GET-AWAY-WITH-IT-THEN-YOU-CAN-CHOOSE-A-PERSON-TO-SPARE-AND-ESCAPE-WITH-YOU

Monokid: Leaving the rest of you commoners to die a horrible death!

Monotaro: The murderer gets to spare someone and escape with them? And they can choose?

Monodam: That will be very interesting!

Mono-Peko: (excited) And the best thing is that you can use any method! (Casual) Beheading, burning, sawing someone in half, crushing, drowning…Bludgeoning, the simple stabby stab, strangling, poisoning… Or you can just shoot them and leave them wherever the body fell! So get creative!

Tanaka: I'm surprised that Mono-Peko has not had her story told on Grizzly Tales yet. Or the Monokubs! Mono-Peko is probably a bad parent. Those Monokubs need to be destroyed. Often, if a parent is said to be responsible for the problem, they are only punished by the fate of their child. That will punish Mono-Peko!

Mono-Peko: You can't destroy my children. If you do, you'll get shot!

Tanaka: (sighs) Grizzly Tales taught me a lot of things. Apparently, if you're mouthy in school, a hairdresser will cut your tongue. If you don't eat fruit, you'll turn into a bat and if you pressure your child into the adult world prematurely, they'll turn into a pensioner.

Soda: (offended) You need a good talking to, Mono-Pekoyama!

Monotaro: I agree!

Mono-Peko stopped cheering.

Mono-Peko: Hey! Don't reprimand your parents, my children! And don't reprimand your hostess, either, Soda!

Tanaka: Thanks, Mono-Peko. Don't blame me when your kids get crushed to death in a bottle!

Mono-Peko: How did you learn that?

Tanaka: I watched Grizzly Tales. Apparently, if you reprimand your parents, you'll get squished inside a bottle! That's what I learned from one episode. "Message In A Bottle", to be more precise!

Maki: I also watched that episode. It hit differently for me, though.

Soda: I also watched that episode! And I was horrified by the animation. You see, "Sick to Death" didn't faze me, though Rantaro was disturbed by a person getting sucked into the vacuum cleaner piece by piece, with organs shown in disgustingly vivid detail. "Message In A Bottle", however, was a different story. That last second was legitimately terrifying the first time I saw it. I wasn't too fazed by the previous episodes, but this? This was the only time where I've ever doubted my resolve. I was like 'I don't think I can watch this!'

Rantaro: I also watched that episode. And I was disturbed. Seriously. I had to take a break after the 'story' was done. And then there's the closing segment. Good god. Hearing the Night Night Porter casually mention how the family had 'lost their income' so they just made their fortune out of their son disturbed me! It's the only moment where the Night Night Porter gave me chills.

Tanaka: And I read the book this story comes from. The book version was more horrifying than the episode, to put it lightly. It included horrible sentences like "There were a few nasty cracks and crunches as the boy's bones dislocated." Thank god there's no audiobook version because that would have been scary.

Mono-Peko looked disturbed.

Mono-Peko: (disturbed) I regret asking.

Monokubs: So long, bearwell!

The Monokubs vanished, Mono-Peko with them.

Ibuki: Ibuki's gonna be your leader, and if we work together, we'll escape! And we are not gonna kill each other! I swear!

* Time skip *

Mikan arrived at a room, which was decorated to look like a party.

Mikan: What is this?

Suddenly, everyone else appeared.

Ibuki: Welcome to my special 'We-Aren't-Gonna-Kill-Each-Other-No-Matter-What' party!

Hinata: It's gonna compensate for being stuck on Mars.

Soda: It'll be fun!

Aoi: I helped make the food!

Suddenly, Rantaro stepped on the stage.

Rantaro: Let's kick off this party with a song! It'd strength our bonds! I call this piece… "Beautiful Ugly!" Though it was stolen for Back to the Outback, I was gonna sing this for Shuichi at first - I even wrote it because the lyrics reflected Shuichi - but I'm gonna sing it for you!

He began to sing as music played…

[Music: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbhqq58Ei1E]

You are the real platonic ideal

Of perfect poise and charm

You got a Mona Lisa smile, oh, the Venus de Milo

Couldn't touch you even if he had both of his arms

Nothing's as sweet as the way that you treat me

When everything is going right

But when you're tired and grumpy or overly hungry

Man, it ain't a pretty sight

What I'm trying to say

In every single way

I think you're beautiful

But not when we're having a fight

You are beautiful

In certain types of lights (na, na, na, na)

It doesn't matter what you say

There's no point in denying

You are beautiful

Well, most of the time

Oh and honey you're lovely, you're cuddly

Your walk is the talk of the town

And when you're feeling the grooviness, sure, you got moves

Like Jagger when the lights go down

But in the morning light when you had a big night

Honey you're a heck of a mess

You are the nicest boy in the whole wide world

Unless you haven't had your first espresso (oh-oh)

The thing about you and me

We always agreed that honesty

Is beautiful

And honestly I think you're fine

I mean, you're beautiful

About eighty-four percent of the time

But every now and then I take a photo of you

You look a little bit like a fish

You are beautiful-ish

People who want you to be perfect

Believe me, boy, they just ain't worth it

The surface can be fun

But time will see their love undone

I love every crease and crack of you

The unfiltered front and back of you

The ugg-booted morning truth of you

Wouldn't change a single tooth of you

All those branded beauties

With their tanned and airbrushed bootys

Think they're beautiful

But they haven't got the meaning right

You can't be beautiful

If you're constantly adjusting your lights (na, na, na, na)

It's a pity but prettiness comes and goes

Baby how can I make you see

You are beautiful

You will always be beautiful

Utterly beautiful to me

Tanaka: That song was… beautiful.

Rantaro: You loved it. Oh thanks.

After a few minutes of partying, the lights suddenly went out, causing everyone to scream in fright!

Mikan: Ahhh!

After a few minutes, the lights came back on.

Everyone was okay. The room looked the same, but with one minor difference…

Ibuki was lying on the ground, there was blood on her head.

Ibuki Mioda, the Ultimate Affulent Progney, was… dead.

(We end my first daily life section!)