School Rules

The robotic raccoon showed up again, running on all fours with a stack of tablets on its back. He stopped when he reached up, and carefully slid the tablets off of his back. He then looked up at us, incredulously.

"What? My front paws don't work well for carrying that many E-Handbooks, and I don't run very fast on my hind legs. Anyway, find your E-Handbook and turn it on. It should have your name engraved on the back of it, so unless you can't read, you should be able to find it easily!"

We each gathered in on the pile and found our E-Handbooks, with Sakura and Nekomaru handing out any they found that weren't theirs.

I found mine slid underneath Mahiru's, so I handed her E-Handbook to her and turned mine on. A splash screen saying "The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center" with "Shishano Kantoku: Ultimate Mortician" underneath it appeared, then a series of menus showed up, along with the time. It was 4:35pm.

Before I had a chance to really check it out, Monorakun spoke up again. "Alright, everyone, open your E-Handbooks, and go to the section marked 'Rules'. Make sure to read all the way through the rules, then hit the 'I Accept' at the bottom of the page. You only have to accept this once, and you can always come back later to read the rules as needed. I'll wait here for any questions."

As I was instructed, I opened the "Rules" page by tapping its icon, and a page came up. Scrolling down, I read each rule, a feeling of dread shooting through me.

Rule 1: "Nighttime is from 10pm until 7am. The water will be shut off to the facility at this time, and the Dining Hall, Trash Room, and Pool will be closed at this time. Any time, outside of this period, is considered Daytime."

Rule 2: "Sleeping anywhere except the dormitory, regardless of what time it is, is prohibited. This is considered sleeping in class."

Rule 3: "Letting another student use your handbook is prohibited. This is considered a security violation, as the Pool Room tracks who enters and leaves it via the E-Handbook."

Rule 4: "Violence against Headmaster Monorakun is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras. This is considered vandalism of school property."

Rule 5:  "With minimal restrictions, you are otherwise free to explore The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center at your own discretion."

Rule 6: "Students must live at The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center for the rest of their lives. There is only one exception to this rule, which Monorakun will explain upon request."

Rule 7: "Any student who fails to accept the Terms and Conditions within 24 hours of their Class Orientation faces permanent expulsion."

Rule 8: "Additional Rules may be added by Headmaster Monorakun, at his discretion. When this happens, every E-Handbook's Rules section will be immediately updated, and a message will be sent out to the Group Chat with the new rule."

Below the final rule was a box, with "I Accept" next to it. Seeing little choice in the matter, I tapped the box, which produced a checkmark before disappearing. A message saying "Thank you!" appeared for a few moments, then faded out.

Mondo was the first to speak up. "We must live here for the rest of our lives? The fuck does that mean?!"

Monorakun waddled up to Mondo on all fours, then stood up on his hind legs and spoke. "It means this school is your forever home! And if you don't like it, there's only one way out..." Monorakun paused, clearly baiting Mondo to ask how.

It worked. "Oh? And what the fuck is that? How do we get out of here?"

Monorakun smiled. "Well, I'm glad you asked. The only way out is to kill another student, AND get away with the murder!"

Mondo picked up Monorakun by the scruff of his neck and looked into his eyes. "The fuck did you just say? We have to kill each other? Fuck that bullshit!"

Monorakun's teeth started vibrating rapidly back and forth as he opened his mouth wide. "Remember the rules? No violence against Headmaster Monorakun!"

Mondo shot back, "Hey, I haven't accepted these rules yet!"

Monorakun growled, then sighed. "Technically, until you accept the terms, I can't do anything to you yet. However, until you DO, you can't enter your room tonight, because you need your E-Handbook to do so! Also, you don't want to know what 'permanent expulsion' is, trust me...Now, put me down, this instant!"

Mondo shook his head. "No chance, pal! You're letting us all go, now!"

Monorakun's eye started pulsing, slowly at first, then faster, accompanied by a beeping sound. Mondo looked at the robotic raccoon, confused.

Suddenly, I saw Kyoko's eyes go wide open, and she shouted at Mondo, "Throw it!"

Mondo looked at Kyoko, confused. "Huh?"

Kyoko repeated herself, more panicked. "Throw it! Throw it now!"

Mondo did as Kyoko said, launching Monorakun as far away from himself as he could. Suddenly, Monorakun exploded, his arms, legs, torso, tail, and head all flying in random directions!

As we all watched, stunned, metal wires came out of Monorakun's torso, snaking around to its missing limbs and head, before connecting itself to them and pulling the limbs and head back to its torso. Finally, Monorakun had pulled himself together, literally speaking, and seemed none too happy about what had happened. Well, everything except his stomach, which was still hanging wide open from the blast.

"We'll just consider that a stern warning, alright? Now, if I may finish answering your question, if you want to leave The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center, you must kill another student, AND...get away with it! Let me go over the details."

Monorakun plopped down into a sitting position, on his haunches. "First, one of you kills someone else, or even TWO other people, if you prefer. But NO MORE! Two is the max! Afterwards, at least three people discover the body. I call everyone to the scene of the crime, and EVERYONE (including the murderer, who is referred to as the Blackened) investigates the murder. After x amount of time, I summon everyone to the Courtroom, where a roundtable Class Trial is held. Any topic goes at any time, but eventually, a vote is held."

Monorakun leaned in. "And HERE'S the important part. If you vote correctly, the Blackened faces...EXECUTION! And the next morning, at 7am, I'll open the next floor to everyone else."

Monorakun's red slitted eye started glowing. "But...if you guess incorrectly...the Blackened gets to go free, and EVERYONE ELSE faces execution instead! So point the finger at your own peril, because everyone's lives are on the line here! Heh heh heh hee heeee!"

I could not believe what I was hearing. We had to remain here for the rest of our lives, unless we murdered a fellow student and escaped judgement? This was NOT what I signed up for.

Monorakun continued. "Oh yeah! One more thing! There's a brand new function on your E-Handbooks now, called a Group Chat! You can use this function, if you wish, to speak with everyone at once! I'm still working out some bugs on the Private Chat, so sorry about that. Anyway, orientation is over, so go do whatever you want!" He then...disappeared. Just...poof! Gone, without a trace, like a ghost.

I really wanted to explore my surroundings, but I did not want to go alone. I wanted to get to know my fellow students better, so I took stock of my clientele, so to speak. Toko and Ryoma did not appear to desire company, and I had no desire to go with Teruteru, so that helped narrow my options down some.

Mondo and Fuyuhiko were eyeing each other up, but did not seem aggressive towards each other. Their posture and distance seemed to be one of mutual respect of two Alpha-types. I hoped that they could help keep each other in check, rather than tear each other apart.

Sakura and Nekomaru sounded like they were catching up on old times. Apparently, they had trained together on a mountain once, and part of me was curious about this training.

Mahiru and Hiyoko were talking, with Hiyoko shooting nasty glares at Fuyuhiko. According to Fuyuhiko, both girls had a hand in covering up his sister's murder, but I was not going to pry into that. In truth, I was much more interested in Mahiru than Hiyoko, as the latter struck me as an immature brat.

Tenko was all over Himiko, pestering her, while Himiko looked...Tired? Bored? Nervous? I could not really tell. Still, Tenko's comments about "degenerate males" struck me as odd, even if Fuyuhiko was rude. What was up with Tenko just then?

Korekiyo seemed keenly interested in Kyoko, though that interest seemed one-sided. In fact, Kyoko seemed to be almost ignoring the strange guy. Still, anthropology seemed a very interesting topic, and I wanted to try to know more about Kyoko, but I knew I would have to be...gentle wasn't quite the right word, but direct confrontation would likely make her lock up tight and avoid me, and I didn't want that.

Meanwhile, there was still Gundham and Rantaro, the first two people I met here. While they didn't have much in common, but they are the first two people I met here. Gundham was pretty strange, however, and it was sometimes hard to make sense of his words.

I thought things over for a while, then I made up my mind on who I would approach to explore the school with.