Chapter 5- Investigation

This search wasn't all that bad. Everyone went there separate ways when searching the place. I first went to visit my dorm as I found my nameplate above a large wooden door beside everyone else's in a long wide hallway. My last name was on a piece of paper as it showed a rather poorly drawn face of me.

I ignored it as I opened the door and looked inside. The room was rather large for a school bedroom with a bed next to a wall with a desk near the edge of the room. It was rather bland and barely any other furniture or decorations were hung in the room as I then walked over to another door at the edge of my room. A bathroom.

I opened the door and peered inside to see a fully functional shower and sink sit in a small bathroom that I could barely stretch my arms across and have it touch the narrow walls.

It seems this bear really planned out how we were going to live like here as I tested the hot and cold water of the sink, both seemed to work perfectly fine.

I sighed and exited the bathroom to gaze around my room absentmindedly. I didn't know what to do. People were busy searching, so I guess it was right I should've searched around too.

I walked out of my room as I gazed around to see multiple classmates walk around and inspecting every detail of this place as I walked passed the main hall leading to the cafeteria. We were supposed to meet up there in twenty minutes now, there was no point in entering now.

I walked aimlessly passed other people as I then turned a corner to see Aoi and Sakura stand near a staircase that must've led up to the second floor, but the odd thing was something was blocking the way up.

I walked closer to the two to see a chain fence was reaching from the ground all the way to the roof of the first floor to block the staircase. It seemed we won't be able to go up there for the time being.

"How's the investigation going?" I asked while walking up to them and saw that the two girls noticed me.

"Not great so far. Ogami can't lift the fence so it seems we won't be able to see what's upstairs," Aoi answered with a small pout as she looked back up at the fence.

"Perhaps there is a reason behind the limited room here," Sakura said while observing the staircase.

"Monokuma must've blocked off entry to the upper floors for a reason. We just have to hope for now that we'll find a way up there," I said in a positive voice before walking off and saying good bye to the two girls.

Those two were people I could get along nicely with. It's only been about an hour and I could say I trust them completely. I wouldn't see them being the type to murder someone while here, which made me relieved. But, for them to be the ones murdered was what scared me.

I continued walking until I came upon an open room. I gazed inside curiously to find a fully functional laundry room. Washing machines were lined against the wall as bins of fresh clothing were laid out among the floor. At least our clothes won't be smelly and dirty while we were here. If that was a positive from being trapped here.

I didn't know what else to do to pass the time as I sat on a bench inside the laundry room and took out my digital notebook. For now, I could see if any other valuable information was kept inside this device to help with adapting here.

I didn't know how much time has passed when I gazed up from my handbook after rereading all the rules and making some of my own rules to follow: Don't commit a murder, don't go out during nighttime, don't accept any invitations that could lead to your inevitable death, trust your friends...

Trust your friends was a difficult rule for me to make. I liked to think that the friends I've made in this building were people I could trust. Makoto, Aoi, Sakura, Sayaka, and Chihiro were my closest friends and it would scare me to see them murder or be murdered by another one of my classmates. It would break my heart to see one of them kill another. Trusting them and seeing them break that trust was a reality I didn't want to face. I just had to trust that they'll be fine.

And I didn't worry yet about my own death here. Some people didn't really enjoy me being here, Leon didn't seem to like me all that much. And then there was Byakuya. The little comment he gave after Makoto got knocked out proved that. The comment about my anger issues.

Perhaps that was something I could work on. Celeste seemed to be pretty good at staying calm. Maybe she would be willing enough to show me how to stay calm and control my anxiety.

How was I the Ultimate Actor again?

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts as I gazed up at the clock hanging on the wall. Shit! I was five minutes late to our meeting in the cafeteria!

I must've been too deep into my thoughts as I stuffed my digital notebook into my bag and quickly ran out of the laundry room.

I ran through the hallway until I came across the main hall and I stopped for a quick breath as I looked towards the long dormitory hallway to see Makoto and Sayaka come out of Makoto's own room. Oh yeah, Sakura carried Makoto to his dorm and Sayaka stayed behind. I forgot all about that.

I walked over to the two. I assumed they were heading to the cafeteria as well since Sayaka knew we were going to meet up there.

"Hey, Naegi, Maizono, how you feeling?" I greeted the two as I walked up to them.

"Never better," Makoto answered while laughing and giving me a friendly smile.

"That's great to hear. I feel like it's my fault that you took the punch from Owada," I said nervously, feeling the guilt hang over me when remembering how Makoto was brutally punched by Mondo.

"No worries! Guess that's what I get for trying to get in between a fight," Makoto said while chuckling nervously. I still felt the guilt of Makoto getting punched because of me. I was there, I could've interfered, but I didn't do anything but stand there.

"It was pretty brave of you to stand up to Togami though," Sayaka said to me with a bright smile.

"Who else was? That brat needed to learn that he wasn't the only one who was trapped here," I answered while trying to sound calm while talking about Byakuya's sour attitude.

"Heh. I'm glad you did it though! Now, shall we get to the cafeteria. I'm sure Ishimaru's mad we didn't show up yet," Sayaka said while giggling. I smiled brightly as I nodded and walked with the two to the cafeteria and inside.

Everyone else was already there. I didn't take the time to look inside, but it seemed big enough to fit a whole other class as we entered. Everyone was sitting around a long wide table with enough chairs to sit everyone in the group. The only people who didn't sit at the table were Byakuya and Toko. Byakuya say a round table near the long one while Toko stood near him while biting her nails.

As the three of us entered, everyone seemed to notice our entry.

"Oh! Oh hey! I was wondering where you went, Henka! Nice to see you made it! Oh! And there's the man of the hour! You okay?" Aoi said as we entered and made our way to the table.

"Sure am! Never better!" Makoto said while walking over and taking a seat next to Mondo, a daring move.

"Sorry I'm late. Lost track of time," I said nervously as I sat next to Aoi.

"So. Let's chalk the whole thing up to stress," Mondo said to Makoto while looking at him with a relaxed look.

"Uh, yeah. No worries Owada. I mean, we're all on edge. Tempers flare up sometimes," Makoto said while giving a nervous smile to Mondo. I felt like those words were targeted to me somehow. With me making a scene in the gym and causing Makoto to black out.

"Good thing that punch didn't kill ya. Or we would all be even more worried," I said jokingly as I crossed my arms in my chair but all I heard was a groan from Mondo.

"I doubt any of us would kill in front of witnesses. That is to say, under present circumstances safety in numbers would seem to hold true," Celeste said while twirling a piece of hair in her finger.

Of course none of us would kill in front of another. That would be breaking the whole rule of not getting caught by witnesses. It was stated in the digital notebook.

I then heard somebodies hands slam onto the table as I looked up to see Taka standing up from his chair with a stern and serious look as he gazed at everyone with his hands flat against the table's surface. "Right, listen up! I hereby call to order the first Hope's Peak High School Reconnaissance Committee Briefing on Academy Affairs. Let's review the present state of our intel. And remember, all cards on the table!"

I readied myself to tell them about the laundry room I found while investigating. It wasn't much, but at least it was something that could help us with our appearance.

"I kicked that stupid door in the main hall for over an hour. Nothing. Didn't leave so much as a dent. Thing's hard as iron," Mondo explained about the door in the main hall that was shaped circular. It was probably the exit out of this school. No wonder it didn't open.

"It is iron, so that makes sense," Celeste said calmly.

"At the end of the main corridor, we found a stairwell leading to an upper floor," Sakura explained and I remembered the large into fence blocking the entry to the second floor.

"But the security gate was down and we couldn't get it to budge," Aoi added with a small frown.

"I saw Ogami try and lift the fence, but it didn't move one bit. Monokuma must've planned that iron fences strength ahead of time," I explained in a sigh.

"I see... It is interesting that certain areas of the facility are evidently out of bounds for the time being," Kyoko said while putting her hand under her chin in a thinking position.

"The dorm rooms are quite nice. Firm beds, good lighting, stylish decor. Except for the iron plates and surveillance cameras, I'd give 'em five stars," Hifumi explained of the dorms. That's where he spent most of his time?! It made my finding seem interesting. I didn't take the time to lay on the bed and feel how soft it was when I was looking for a possible escape. It didn't excite me to sleep in there tonight.

"I searched the kitchen. They've got enough food packed in the fridge to feed an army. Safe to say we won't go hungry," Chihiro explained her finding and I was relieved to hear we had food here.

"Surely there's not enough to feed sixteen people for the rest of their lives?" Hifumi asked and I rolled my eyes. Of course he would ask that when he probably ate servings that fed five people.

"No, there is. The fridge gets restocked every day according to how much we've eaten the day prior. See, Monokuma told me so," Chihiro explained with a bright smile. We had an unlimited amount of food at our hands... I wondered where the bear got it from.

"You saw him?" Junko asked with a furrowed brow. Oh, I completely overlooked that!

"He popped out of nowhere while I was looking around the kitchen, then disappeared before I could see where he went," Chihiro explained.

"Monokuma seems to be able to see us through the surveillance cameras. It's the only explanation as of how he popped out of nowhere to explain that to Fujisaki," I said, understanding the importance of the surveillance cameras watching over us in the cafeteria and hallway. "But, during my investigation, I found a laundry room down the hallway. It seems we don't need to worry about dirty clothes while here."

"That's the least of our worries right now," Yasuhiro commented.

"Well, thanks for the feedback," I said sarcastically to Yasuhiro as he glared at me when I turned away from him.

"Ahem," Taka said to clear his throat and catch our attention. "Anything else to report?"

"Report," Toko scoffed as she gave us all an annoyed glare from where she stood away from us. "We're still in the dark about who's behind all this, and we're still trapped. This investigation was a waste of time."

"It wasn't a waste of time at all," I said calmly as I looked over at Toko.

"Yes. Some useful information was gleaned from our joint effort," Celeste said agreeing with me. "We now know the boundaries of our confinement. And that we'll be here for a while."

"Stop! I'm having a nervous breakdown!" Toko said while tugging the two braids on her head with a scared and frightened look.

"Monokuma's made that perfectly clear. From where else should the incentive for us to kill?" Byakuya said while looking bored. I knew what he was talking about, being trapped here was supposed to drive us insane and lead us to kill each other. We all knew that... Well, most of us...

"That's not something to joke about!" Junko snapped at Byakuya while giving him an annoyed look before turning back to us.

"Monokuma wants us to go insane with the thought of being stuck here, so he makes us live in the dark about our surroundings and of what do next," I spoke my thoughts out loud as I stared at my feet to avoid eye contact. "That's how he's expecting us to kill each other..."

The atmosphere here made me feel like I was stuck in a prison with no way out. The windows being boarded up. An incentive to kill. All of it made me feel like I was living inside a nightmare. I feared that somebody was actually going to get killed here in a matter of days. Being stuck here seemed to drive Toko insane already.

"Oh man! What are we going to do?!" Leon said while sweating nervously.

"Adapt, I suppose," Celeste answered with her eyes closed and with a small smile.

I looked over at her with a furrowed brow. It was the best thing we could do for now. If we got used to these harsh conditions, maybe a killing wouldn't happen.

"What?" Junko said, looking at Celeste with what I thought was a furrowed brow.

"These aren't such bad arrangements," Celeste said with a calm smile.

"Take away the iron plates and killing threat. I say we can make it work here," I said softly, loud enough for everyone to hear though. Even though the thought scared me half to death, I could get used to being here. I just hoped everyone else around me could as well.

"So we just suck it up? Get used to being prisoners?" Junko asked me with a scrunched up face. I could tell immediately that I did not like her very much.

"In the game of survival, neither the strongest nor smartest have the advantage. But rather those most able to adapt. The most pliable," Celeste explained. People around me began murmuring and whispering to one another as Celeste then stood up. "With that chestnut in mind, I would like to offer everyone, if I may, a modest suggestion."

"Yeah? And what would that be?" Mondo asked while sitting in a rather comfortable position with his legs on the table.

"You will note a designated curfew," Celeste explained while taking out her digital notebook and opening it up to the nighttime rule of the hours being from ten pm to seven am. "Why not make an addendum to these so-called night hours?"

"Like what, exactly?" Junko said, giving her snappy attitude to Celeste. I rolled my eyes. She was worse than I was with being stubborn.

"At night we stay in our rooms. Simple as that," Celeste explained with a small curve showing in her lips.

"It's a rather smart idea. If we don't want to see a dead corpse in the morning, we should probably commit to the rule, all of us," I explained to everyone as they seemed to agree to the thought.

"Alright then! This will now conclude the meeting for Hope's Peak High School Reconnaissance Committee Briefing on Academy Affairs! We will meet here every day in the morning at precisely eight to give information on what we found! Meeting dismissed," Taka said while standing up and announcing this to everyone.

I slowly got up along with everyone else and went along to do our own things for now.

I stayed behind and thought about what to do for now. I didn't know if I wanted to talk to anyone for now when people still seemed a bit on edge.

I walked out of the cafeteria and straight to my room. I passed time by taking a long shower and getting out after about two hours. I wrapped a towel around my body and brushed through my wet tangled of white hair through the mirror. Thank goodness the girls' rooms had locks for their bathrooms or it would've been embarrassing for someone to walk in on me taking a shower as I allowed my hair to dry as I got dressed in the clothes beneath my school clothes. Which were a white tang top with rather short leggings that covered up my underwear under my skirt.

This would have to do for clothes to sleep in. I kept my hair down as I crawled into bed. I had about three or four more hours until nighttime officially begun, but I felt my body drained and exhausted by the day and I just wanted to close my eyes and hope that when I wake up, I was in my regular bed.

I soon drifted off into sleep.

My first day inside my whole new life had just ended.