SDRA2 Redux: Trouble on Jabberwock Island

Chapter 2 - Part 4

POV - Mikado

Ow... my head...

I wanted to keep my eyes shut forever, or at least until this headache went away. Why did it hurt so much? Although, by the time that thought had graced my mind the pain had begun to subside.

Once the throbbing had reached a minimum I slowly opened my eyes.

At once, obnoxious rainbow colors assaulted my senses.

"What the?!" Nikei yelled.

"Wait, how did we get here?!" Sora demanded.

I looked around the place. I and the others were confined within a strange place.

Pictures of fruits were all over the place. Everyone was confused. The colors of the place... They were a mishmash of dancing shapes and colors as cheesy pop music played in the background.

Suddenly, Monocrow appeared.

"12 students are here!" He said, cheerfully. Then he fell silent.

"Well now," Monocrow said. "This is quite the quandary. Quite the pickle. Quite the dilemma even!"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"This student..." Monocrow pointed at Teruya. "...isn't supposed to be here! This is clearly a member of Class 79, not a member of Class 80 of Hope's Peak Academy like the 12 of you!"

"Hey, it's not my fault..." Teruya objected. "On top of being a student of Hope's Peak Academy, I also work for the Kisaragi Foundation!"

"Sheesh, I'm getting way too off track. Welcome to Monocrow's Magical Funhouse!" He said. "You're currently in the Watermelon House's third floor, in the indoor park!"

"The way we were admitted does not seem fun in any way!" Nikei pointed at the mad bird.

"Sorry about that." Monocrow shrugged. "Anyways, instead of stairs, there is a lift! You can call it whatever time you want! It can take you to any area of the Funhouse you want!"

"...But what does this have to do with our motive today?" asked Nikei.

"The motive is the Funhouse itself! You get to stay in it for 10 days until someone is killed by someone else!" Monocrow said.

"Well, the fact there's obivously no way out seems frustrating, but it doesn't sound too bad otherwise." Setsuka said.

"Also!" Monocrow gestured. "This will be like a 10 day escape room, and there's gotta be some time limit to every escape room..."

"...I think I can see where this is going," Syobai cringed.

"So I figured that I'll be using the clock inside your stomachs as the time limit!" Monocrow announced.

What the hell?!

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

Was he serious?

"The 13 of you have 10 days. 10 days until you bastards die of starvation to kill!" Monocrow laughed.

No way! So he was serious!

"Damm! You guys should have never gone here!" Teruya said.

"Anyways, I think I should cut to the chase. There are 3 houses here - the Watermelon House, the Lime House and the Lemon House. The girls get the Lime House, and the guys get the Watermelon House. And Teruya over there gets the Lemon House! You can visit each other's houses if you want! I've hidden all kinds of gems in each house. There are 6 bedrooms in each house - barring the Lemon House, which only has one bedroom. Two bedrooms are Okay Rooms, two are Deluxe Rooms, and two are Crappy Rooms."

He then told us which bedrooms were ours.

"So, I got the Okay Room." Nikei said, not his bubbly self from the past few days.

"I got the Crappy Room thanks to my luck..." Iroha chuckled.

I think I can handle this...

On the fifth day of starvation, I got up from my bed.

My tummy rumbled. I couldn't get food.

I remembered when this motive was put into place by Monocrow.

I remembered the day we convicted Hajime to death for the murder of Yuri. I decided that it would be best if someone got murdered again. If someone had to kick the bucket for us survive, then I was okay with that.

I headed out of my bedroom, and I saw Nikei.

He had lost his morale completely.

Even the Ultimate Journalist himself wasn't immune to the effects of going hungry, and it was already starting to show.

Granted, I'd already seen this coming. Nikei Yomiuri had given everything to being a reporter, often passing up eating or sleeping for news gathering, so it was inevitable. He would probably die quicker.

So, we had 5 days until we died of starvation. 5 days to come up with a way to escape from this horrible Funhouse.

I had to figure this out on my own. So, I planned. Planned while also walking around the Funhouse, but planned, nonetheless.

Of course, this planning quickly devolved into repeating the events of the first trial over and over again in my head. I decided to check on Setsuka. To see if she was okay. Everyone else I had encountered was weak from the hunger, and had accepted their fate.

I headed to the Lime House, where Setsuka was. She was the only one physically unaffected by this starvation.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Setsuka!" I beamed.

"My stomach's been growling since 5 days ago... I really didn't wanna have to join everyone else in resigning to their fates, but the headache from not eating yesterday was reeeally killing my vibe." Setsuka said. "So I found a secret garden here, and I secretly fed myself with stuff from it!"

"I wonder how Monocrow is going to react to seeing you finding a loophole in his motive..." I commented.

"Why does that bird care?" Setsuka laughed. "As a bonus, I found a special ice skate rink here!"

"Maybe you can use that!" I said.

"I'll be able to put on my greatest performance yet! And it's all thanks to your suggestion, Kado. I'll make sure to keep in touch with you and everyone else I made friends with after this is all over...I know deep down that none of us want this killing game." Setsuka said.

"Or starve to death." I snarked halfheartedly.

"Okay!" Setsuka cheered me on. "I'll put on my performance after 2 hours!"

"Okay." I said.

I headed back to the Watermelon House, and my room.

I propped myself on my bed, taking out Loud House Revamped, the book I picked up before entering the Funhouse.

I started to read it.

It was the longest book ever. This lasted for around two hours.

I put down the book, knowing it was time for Setsuka's show.

Me and Nikei headed to the Lime House, towards the ice rink.

I wish I never saw what my eyes fell upon.

Kokoro was standing there. She was covered from head to toe in blood, and holding a bloody butter knife. But what she was looking at was truly horrifying.

Emma Magorobi, the Ultimate Pianist, was lying on the floor. There was an ugly, blood gash across her neck. Teal buttons had been sewn into her eyes, and her mouth had been stitched shut. But worse of all was the fact that her jacket had been sewn into her skin. As a result, blood was slightly visible through her hair and clothes.

Oh... Oh my-

I stood there, transfixed by the horrific scene. All of a sudden the stench hit me - the stench of blood. I barely had the time to open my mouth before my stomach violently emptied itself on the ground. Tears stung my eyes, both from the grisly sight and from the sudden dread of realization.

It happened again.

Oh god, it happened again.