Chapter 2 - Investigations and findings

Exiting the room, I found that Kyoko had not yet completed her investigation. To pass the time, I began exploring the hallways. They looked creepy, like the designer had a weird sense of style, with dark wood paneling and dim lighting casting eerie shadows. Trying to ignore the weird feeling, I started examining the nameplates on the doors, each adorned with a cartoonish drawing of the person the room belonged to.

Suddenly, I heard the gate of the room beside me open, and Kyoko emerged, closing the door with a thud. She then locked the room and started walking in my direction.

"I assume you found the same things as me except for the toolbox; it should be a sewing box in your room," she said, her tone calm and analytical.

"Yes, the dorm doesn't seem to have any more areas to investigate. Let's get a move on," I replied.

"Yeah, let's start with the other side of the dormitory."

"Okay."

We then started to walk around the dorms, with Kyoko trailing a step behind me. Our footsteps echoed through the creepy hallway, the only sound breaking the eerie silence.

"It seems to be an incinerator, but with bars around it. I assume it is locked, and there doesn't seem to be a way to go around it," I said, peering at the barred room.

Looking back at Kyoko, I noticed she had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Did you find anything unusual?" I asked.

She didn't reply immediately, instead looking at me with an unreadable expression, as if trying to discern any lies I might have told. After a moment, she finally spoke. "Nothing. We should go to other areas now," she said, turning away from me and starting to walk.

We continued to explore around the school. Some rooms were locked, and others didn't have anything worth investigating. In short, we couldn't find anything.

Entering the last room to investigate, we found it was a storeroom. After looking around for a while, we still didn't find anything useful. It was then that I saw a folded paper on a box in a corner. Opening it, I saw it was a map.

<<It is a map of Hope's Peak>> Ciel said, examining the map carefully. Then, there was a sound behind me.

"Did you find anything?" Kyoko asked, looking at the map in my hand.

"It seems to be a map, possibly of this floor, and it is written that it's of Hope's Peak. But I noticed there are some odd renovations done in the school," I said, handing the map to her.

"This does seem to be the map, and there are some odd things. But this does clarify one thing I have been thinking."

"You mean about whether this place is really Hope's Peak?"

"That's right, but this map does prove that this place is either really Hope's Peak or the mastermind has copied the floor plan."

We stood in silence, contemplating the implications. If this was really Hope's Peak, then the mastermind was powerful enough to take control of the world's most prestigious academy.

<<It's time for a meeting in the cafeteria>>

"Ah! Crap, we forgot about the meeting. Let's go, they must be getting worried about us."

"Alright."

———————

---

Rain tapped rhythmically against the windowpane, a steady tip-tip that filled the quiet space of the dormitory dining hall. The room was spacious and well-lit, with polished wooden tables and neatly arranged chairs that gleamed under the soft overhead lights. The scent of cleaning supplies lingered in the air, giving the room a sterile, almost too-perfect ambiance. The sound of the rain outside added an undercurrent of melancholy, a constant reminder of the isolation they were now trapped in.

Sayaka's eyes scanned the room, her shoulders relaxing slightly. Despite the circumstances, the cleanliness offered a small comfort. "It looks pretty clean, so that's good," she murmured, her voice barely audible over the rain.

Makoto sighed, glancing around. "Yeah, that's true... I guess that's not really important right now, with us being prisoners here and all."

The silence was heavy, pressing down on them, amplifying the eerie stillness of their predicament. Nobody was waiting there for them. They didn't really have much choice. "I guess we should just wait here for now," Makoto thought.

Sayaka nodded. "Hmm... Okay, let's just wait here."

Makoto felt a chill run down his spine as Sayaka turned to him, her eyes wide with surprise. "Huh!? You heard that!?"

"Like I said, I'm psychic," she replied with a playful smirk. "Come on, I'm just kidding! Seriously, I just have amazing intuition."

Makoto couldn't shake the feeling of unease. Is it really just intuition...?

Um, so...what time is it right now?

Makoto glanced at the wall clock, its hands frozen at 7:00 PM. "What!? 7 o'clock!? At night!? We've been investigating for hours..."

Sayaka's expression turned serious. "I see... Without being able to look out a window, I've lost all sense of time. If I have to stay in this place for too long...I might just go crazy..."

Makoto rubbed his temples, feeling the strain of their confinement gnawing at his sanity. "By the way, Makoto..."

"Huh? What is it?"

"W-Well, it's just... I know this is kind of [continuing the self-introduction thing], but I wanted to ask you something."

"Continuing our self-introductions?"

Sayaka fidgeted, her eyes avoiding his. There was a hint of vulnerability in her posture, a crack in her otherwise composed demeanor. "We kinda got cut off before, but I had a question I wanted to ask you."

Sayaka wants to ask me something? I wonder what it is. Now I'm really curious...

"What did you want to ask me?"

Sayaka took a deep breath, her eyes searching his face for a moment before she spoke. "Makoto...did you happen to go to Blackroot Junior High? Were you maybe...in class 2?"

"Y-Yeah, actually...I was."

Makoto's heart skipped a beat. Memories of middle school flashed through his mind.

"I knew it! I went there, too! I was in class 4, though. Do you remember me?"

"Do I remember...?"

Even back in middle school, she was a celebrity with all kinds of "ultimates" surrounding her. How could I forget? Almost as surprising as her question was...that she remembered me! We'd never even talked to each other, but somehow she still knew who I was.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm just surprised, is all. I wouldn't have thought you'd remember me."

"We went to the same school for three years, of course I remember!"

"Well, that's true. But there were lots of students in our grade, right? Plus, I've never been the type of person to ever really stand out. I'm average at everything, and all my hobbies are totally normal. Even 'normal' would call me boring."

Sayaka tilted her head, her expression softening with amusement. "What are you talking about? You're so strange!"

"S-Strange? That's--!"

"Hahaha!"

She started giggling even louder. That somehow mysterious smile of hers made my heart grow calmer. Her smile was the nicest smile I'd ever seen...

"Anyways, I'm really glad...that I know somebody here. Talking to you has made me feel a lot better about all this... You're amazing, Makoto!"

"N-No, I'm really not... I'm nothing at all compared to all you 'ultimates.'"

"But *you're* the one that helped me find my courage again. Not any of those 'ultimate' students."

"Thank you for saying that..."

Sayaka's eyes shone with gratitude, her hand lightly touching his arm. The warmth of her touch sent a wave of reassurance through him.

"And to thank you for helping me out, I'm going to become your Ultimate Assistant!"

"Huh? My assistant?"

"Yup! I'm your assistant now! I'm going to help you out as much as I can, so let's get out of here together!"

When she says things like that, it... It just gets me pumped up!

Makoto felt a surge of determination. Her confidence was infectious, bolstering his own resolve.

"I can't believe no one's here yet. But I'm sure they'll start showing up soon..."

Almost like he'd timed it, Taka threw open the dining hall doors right as Sayaka said that. "Ah, Makoto, Sayaka! So you two got here first, huh?"

Taka's voice boomed, his presence filling the room with an energetic intensity. "Too bad... I was sure I'd beat everyone here."

"I guess that just means I don't have enough fighting spirit yet! Well, I won't give up! Next time, I swear I'll win no matter what it takes! Justice shall always prevail!"

"That's a bit much, don't you think?"

And soon after that everyone else came strolling in one after another. After a few minutes, everyone had gathered in the dining hall. The air was thick with unease, each student wearing expressions that ranged from wary to defiant.

"Okay! It looks like everyone's here. Time to start the meeting! Let's all go around and share what we found during our respective investigations! The sooner we find out what's going on, the sooner we get out of here!"

"Wait, hold on a sec!" Hina's voice broke through the murmurs, her brow furrowed in concern.

"What's wrong!?"

"What about, uh...what's her name? You know, the silver-haired girl."

"Uh...oh yeah, Kyoko!"

"...What about her?"

"She's not here."

"What!? And Rimuru is missing too!"

I took another look around the dining hall. Sure enough, they were nowhere to be seen.

"I wonder where they went. Has anyone seen them?"

But everyone just shook their heads.

"Wait, so *nobody's* seen them?"

Why haven't Kyoko and Rimuru shown up yet? Could it be because...?

"Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill someone if you want to leave. It's as simple as that. The rest is up to you. Give it your all to achieve the best outcome in the worst way possible."

Is it possible? Were they really...? No, no. I'm just overthinking things.

"Darn it, Kyoko! Rimuru! You're really going to be late like this on the first day of school!? Not only are they late, they didn't tell anyone they would be late! A most unbecoming personality trait..."

"You're being a real jackass right now, you know that?"

"Well what do you want me to do!? Punctuality is everything!"

"Now then, I declare that the first session of the Hope's Peak Academy briefing meetings has begun!"

Makoto felt a surge of relief as Sayaka spoke next. "Makoto... Actually, first of all... I've talked enough. Maybe we should listen to what everyone else has to say."

"Okay, let's do that."

Sayaka leaned in closer, her eyes sparkling with a mix of playfulness and sincerity. "I feel like I really have become your personal assistant, don't you agree? I may not be the best assistant in the world, but I'll give it everything I've got."

No...you've already done so much as my assistant.

Makoto smiled, feeling a renewed sense

"Byakuya and Taka each went off on their own, and so did Kyoko. It looks like Leon, Hiro, Junko, and Chihiro all grouped up together. The same goes for Hina, Sakura, and Mondo. Celeste, Toko, and Hifumi were left over, so they joined up."Sayaka said .

Byakuya stood apart from the group, his posture rigid and his eyes cold.

" I wanted to try and find some clue as to who's responsible for imprisoning us here... But unfortunately, I made no such discoveries. That's all from me..."

His voice was clipped, dismissive. He crossed his arms, clearly uninterested in engaging further.

"Really? That's it?"

"If I'd uncovered anything, naturally I would have more to say. But I didn't. So I don't.": R-Right, understood...

Taka ever the diligent student, stepped forward, his face flushed with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

"I spent some time looking around the dormitory, and...There I made the discovery of the century! I found that there was exactly one room for each person!"

He beamed with pride, his eyes shining with a fervent determination. However, the response from the others was less than enthusiastic.

" Well yeah, I figured that out before anything else..."

" Each door already has a nameplate on it, so I guess all the rooms have been assigned already.And each room key was attached to a keychain with the owner's name precision-etched onto it. Which confirms that the room I was in earlier is, in fact, my room."

Chihiro, standing quietly next to Taka, nodded in agreement. Her small frame seemed to shrink even more under the weight of their predicament, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and determination.

"And Chihiro and I found out that all the rooms are totally soundproof. Your next-door neighbor could scream their lungs out, and you wouldn't hear a thing..."Junko said

"Well, each room also had a private bathroom, which could also lock. But it looked like there were only locks on the bathrooms in the girls' dorms."

A frown creased Makoto's brow as he recalled his earlier confusion about the bathroom door in his own room. Something about this place was deeply unsettling.

"Okay, so they got a bunch of rooms ready for us. They're assuming we're gonna be here a while..."

Hina, always the optimist, tried to find a silver lining. Her athletic frame was tense, her eyes filled with a mixture of hope and despair.

"Well, better to have than have not! At least we don't have to worry about surviving like wild animals."

"Th-That can't be all you have to r-report, can it Mr. Honor S-Student?"

Taka stiffened at the remark, his face growing more rigid. The playful jab had struck a nerve.

'" ...That's all for my report! Let's move on to whoever's next!"

Leon, Hiro, Junko, and Chihiro approached, their expressions ranging from frustration to exhaustion. Leon's usually laid-back demeanor was replaced by a deep-seated anger, his eyes flashing with barely controlled rage.

" We went all up and down the school, double-checking the windows in all the hallways and classes. We wanted to see if we could get any of those metal plates to come off. And what happened was...Nothing. Not a damn thing. We couldn't get a single one to budge even a little bit."

Junko sighed dramatically, her perfectly styled hair and makeup at odds with the anxiety evident in her eyes.

"There wasn't any hope of escape anywhere... The school really has been totally cut off."

"This sucks..."

" It *really* sucks! It sucks sucks sucks sucks SUCKS! What the hell are we gonna do!?"

Junko's outburst echoed through the room, his desperation palpable. The raw emotion in his voice was a stark reminder of the hopelessness they all felt.

"Goddamn, calm down! You're starting to make me nervous!"

Hina, Sakura, and Mondo exchanged worried glances before Hina spoke up, her voice soft but steady.

" We thought maybe we could find a way to communicate with the outside, so we went looking all over! But...we didn't find a thing. Sorry..."

"I went back to the main hall, thinking maybe we could do something about that giant hunk of metal. But even with Sakura and me both, it wouldn't budge. We hit it with desks and chairs, and nothin'...It was hard as, like...metal."Mondo explained exasparated.

"Well yes, it *is* metal..."

"Anyway, if we're gonna get outta here, it's not gonna be through there."Mondo's voice was rough, filled with a simmering anger that was barely contained.

"I feel like I could just cry... But no, I have to hold it in! I have to manage my hydration... "Hina's eyes filled with unshed tears, her voice trembling with the effort to stay composed.

Sakura gently patted Hina's shoulder, her eyes soft with concern.

" I shall tell you what happened next... It has nothing to do with communicating with the outside world, but it's still worth worrying about. In both the school and dorm areas, there was a set of stairs leading up to another floor.But there were gates there, and we couldn't find any way to open them, so we couldn't check it out."

Mondo's fists clenched and unclenched in frustration, his voice rough like gravel.

" In other words, at this point we are only able to search the 1st floor.".

Celeste, Toko, and Hifumi"were the last to speak. Celeste's face was a mask of polite indifference, her voice smooth and controlled.

"If I am being honest, I can't quite say we acted as one. Rather, we did *nothing* as one. We spent the entire time in the gym."

Celeste's disdain was palpable, her aristocratic demeanor barely masking her frustration.

"Honestly, we are not exactly the types to go running around a school like a gaggle of junior detectives."

Mondo's eyes flashed with anger, his voice rising in response.

What the hell were you thinking, just sitting around the gym the whole time?"

Toko's face flushed with indignation, her stutter worsening under the pressure.

"W-Well it's not like any of you i-invited me along! Nobody said hey, c-come with us! I blame y-you for leaving me out! I-It's your fault!"

" If you wanted to go with someone, you should've just said something!"

"Hmph. F-Forget it. Like I'd w-want to go anywhere with a dirty s-slut like you..."

Junko's eyes widened in shock, her hands clenching into fists.

"Slut...?"

Toko's voice dripped with venom, her eyes narrowing.

"Your mind is as th-thin as your body. You m-make me sick to my s-stomach..."

Junko's face twisted with hurt and confusion, her voice trembling.

"I...I don't even know how to react. How can you say something so awful to someone you just met?"

"Alright guys, everybody just calm down, okay? All this stress is bad for your skin, y'know?"

Taka's attempt at lightening the mood fell flat, his own nerves showing through his forced smile.

""Yeah! It sounds like you two are so close now you're fighting like sisters!"

Makoto could only watch in dismay as the situation escalated.

"I...don't think that's what going on, Sayaka..."

" So that's what they have to say, huh? Then we guess I'm the only one left...

Sayaka's eyes softened as she looked at Makoto, her concern evident.

"We went and had a look around the dining hall... I found a fridge in the back of the kitchen, and it was overflowing with all kinds of stuff. I guess we don't have to worry about food at least."

Makoto nodded, his mind still reeling from the events of the day. The weight of their situation pressed down on him, a constant reminder of their trapped reality.

"Sure, for now. But even with all that, there are fifteen of us. How long can the food last...?"

Hina tried to offer reassurance, her voice wavering slightly.

" I don't think we have to worry about it. All the food gets restocked automatically each day. At least, that's what Monokuma said.."

"You saw him!?"

"Yeah, he came out of nowhere while we were checking the fridge, told me that, then disappeared again. He was so fast, I can't believe someone could have been moving him around with a remote control...

Sayaka's voice was tinged with unease, her eyes darting around as if expecting Monokuma to appear again.

" A weaponized toy that can just appear from nowhere... I can't tell if we're supposed to be afraid or not."

" But was everything okay? He didn't try to like, eat you or anything?"

"E-Eat her...?"

Toko's voice cracked, her fear palpable.

"Um, what do you mean by that? I mean, when you say "eat," what kind of eating are we talking about?"

"C-Come on, man!"

"What the hell, fatty!? You're acting like some kind of sleazy drunk dude."

"Not like there's a good kind of drunk dude..."

Hiro's attempt at humor fell flat, the tension in the room thickening.

" Hey! Stop screwing around, all of you! Are you still asleep or something? We're prisoners here! We could all just die any second"

Junko's voice cut through the chaos, her fear and frustration mingling.

"She's right. We can't be makin' stupid jokes right now. We gotta do something, or--!"

A voice cut through the noise, interrupting Mondo.

"You're all spending an awful lot of time yelling and carrying on. Do you really think you can afford to do so? Have none of you accepted the reality of the situation?"

"Kyoko! Rimuru !Where the heck have you been!? We already started the meeting without you!"

"Sorry guys we were looking around and lost track of time but we found something that may be useful"

Kyoko didn't respond, instead dropping a piece of paper on the table with a flourish.

" Huh? What's this...?"

Makoto's curiosity was piqued as he picked up the paper, his eyes scanning the map of Hope's Peak Academy.

"It appears to be a map of Hope's Peak Academy."

" A map...?"

Makoto's mind raced with possibilities, his eyes darting between the map and the enigmatic bear.

"Wh-What the...? Where did you find this?"

" It doesn't matter where I found it".

" It DOES matter! You're really freaking us out right now!"

" Never mind that. What's it mean?"

" Just look at it. The building we're in right now is laid out in precisely the same way as Hope's Peak Academy."

Rimuru's words hung in the air, the implications sinking in slowly.

" So what you're saying is...this really is Hope's Peak Academy?"

Makoto's voice was filled with disbelief, his eyes wide.

" Well, in terms of its construction, yes. But it looks like it's had a number of strange...renovations done to it."

Kyoko's analytical tone was a stark reminder of her detective skills.

"Renovations...?"

Makoto's mind raced with questions, his eyes scanning the map for answers.

" I don't know all the details yet. All I found was details about the 1st floor."

Kyoko's admission only added to the mystery, her expression unreadable.

"But then...this really is Hope's Peak. We didn't get kidnapped and taken to some other place...

Makoto's voice trailed off, the weight of Kyoko's revelation settling in.

" So stupid it's not even possible. *This* is where the country's future elite are supposed to come and learn?"

" But if this really is Hope's Peak, where are all the other students?"

Makoto's question hung in the air, unanswered.

[A/N]

 please forgive my mistakes if you find any I am new here and just trying to figure things out .i hope you would tell me if something is wrong or something you would like to add to the story .

thanks for reading . 

don't forget to give me the stones 

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

support me on p@treon.com/rimurusupremechaoscreator

Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.