Act to hide the secret

Teddy bears and crafting lies

The next thing Shuichi knew as he woke up and opened his eyes, was him laying on a cold floor "This looks like... a school's hallway?" He sat up and tried to remember what happened, but the last thing he remembered was him walking from Hopes Peak Academy towards his uncle's agency. "Wait a minute..." His eyes widened in an instant. "I was kidnapped... That means uniform must have been some sort of mark for them!"

He made a sigh and looked down the hall as he made a frown. "I should probably investigate this place..." While he was exploring was he getting frustrated little by little since he only got more questions than he got answers.

( Time skip )

Shuichi had wandered around until he found himself in front of what he guessed would be a room with gym looking doors. "It's usually in the gym that the emergency messages are given... perhaps it would be the same here..." He opened the door and noticed that seven other people were already there. Shuichi looked around at the others and had the feeling that he recognized the people from somewhere but couldn't quite put his finger on where for the moment.

Well at least six of them since one of them, who was looking just as shocked as he, "Maki..." He whispered the name under his breath before walking over to her to not draw too much suspicion to why he would talk to her. Maki narrowed her eyes and had a look that others would think was a death glare, but Shuichi could see the worry in her eyes as he stopped in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Maki snapped at Shuichi who shrugged with a huff as he already had her words translated in his mind to - 'They got you too?' He made a smug little smile that he always made to make Maki understand that he agreed to speak nonsense, "Well, you look pretty in that uniform, why wouldn't I want to talk with you?" - 'Yeah, they probably gave us the uniforms, so they knew who to kidnap.'

They kept talking keeping the surface talk casually so it wouldn't seem suspicious to the others who were in the room and neither to those who were arriving little by little. It was only when he heard the doors being slammed open that he stopped his conversation with Maki and looked over at the door when he listened to some of those who had arrived while he had been talking "Look, two more." Another followed up with; "That makes it sixteen in total." Shuichi stopped midsentence making Maki raise an eyebrow but the young detective regretted looking seeing who it was that had arrived since he now knew why he had felt the feeling of recognition.

Shuichi felt like the time stop for a moment as he looked at the new-comers, one was a green haired male while the other was a blond haired girl. It was at that point that Shuichi knew why he had thought that the other people looked so familiar. "I-It's them... it's the missing high-schoolers..." He whispered that under his breath before Maki laid a hand on his shoulder to calm him down a bit, looking curious at him. "Are you saying these are from the reports?" The words was whispered since her friend had made no move towards making the others hear their conversation.

Shuichi was about to talk when five huge machines appeared in front of them and while the others were screaming in panic over just seeing the robots, was Shuichi looking he was more confused with a hint of disbelieve when he looked at them. "Exisals?! But they should only be in the beta test state in the future foundation's facility?!"

Seeing her friend's confused look, together with what he said made Maki push Shuichi behind her so she could protect him if they tried anything. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing that the robot or 'Exisal' as her friend had called them, who was standing in front of them turned to the others. "Hey, the kids aren't supposed to know what these Exisals are yet, are they?!"

The question got all five robots to argue with each other. But before Shuichi could think of a reason for no less than FIVE exisals that he knew, should not have been out of the testing states yet, did he hear a voice that made him freeze and get pale as a two-colored bear appeared out of nowhere. It made Shuichi's body shake since he recognized the bear from the description in the few things Kyoko had given him.

Maki who noticed the trembling was more than ready to attack the bear, but something told her that it would be a horrible idea even if the monocubs, who had been controlling the exisals, had jumped out of them to greet there ', daddy'. "Shuichi.. do you know that Monokuma bear?" Maki whispered that as she got a nod as Shuichi whispered back as the two-colored bear talked to the high schoolers. "Yeah... he's the mascot of the killing game and is the symbol of despair..." He tried to make a little, but awkward, chuckle. "Kinda funny how he took two students from Saishuu, when he's the symbol of despair itself."

Maki just made an understanding nod but was on the inside just as amused by the Saishuu deal. It was only when they heard Monokuma say that none of them looked like ultimates in those uniforms, that the two Saishuu students, paid full attention and before any of the people knew what was going on had all sixteen gotten new clothes. Fourteen out of sixteen was looking at their clothes in wonder like they had never worn them, but the last two was looking at each other with an alarmed look which screamed 'How did he know about our real uniform?!'.

Shuichi tried to keep his head calm as he looked at Monokuma, who was talking about them not having received their first memory before the bear pulled a flashlight. Shuichi had a very good guess what was for so before the bear could turn the flashlight on, was the detective whispering in his friend's ear, "Act like the other student, we can't let him know about us yet!"

Maki was first looking confused at her friend, but if it wasn't for knowing that the detective would sometimes do the weirdest things to keep them safe, would she probably have made a yelp as Shuichi pulled her down on the floor when everyone who had been blinded by the 'flashlight', in the bear's paw, fell to the floor. She had closed her eyes as she felt herself being picked up by, what felt like, a metal arm and would have blown her acting if it wasn't for the fact that she knew that, Shuichi would mock her with it for who knew how long.

Neither of them knew where they were being carried to, but it didn't seem too far when they heard the bears talk to each other through the machines. "There's no other humans in there... let's put these two in there!" The question 'In where?' went through their heads, before they shortly after was placed on what felt like floor.

Both Maki and Shuichi, waited a couple of minutes after the robot noises had disappeared, before opening their eyes. The sight that met them, was that they had been carried into a library looking room. It was filled with books about everything.

Shuichi made a sigh as he thought about the situation. They had been kidnapped and was now who knows where, the high-schoolers he had searched for was right in front of him, but who knew how much panic it could bring, if anyone knew that he and Maki was different than the others... He was looking at Maki while thinking of their time spend together at Saishuu, but that made him realize something about Maki. "Maki, I know your title is the 'ultimate assassin' at school but think about it... How do you think people would react if they knew that it was your title?"

Maki thought about Shuichi's words. She WAS aware of the idea that the others wouldn't completely trust her, and they would probably be much more suspicious of Shuichi for being her friend, "I know where you're coming from, but I don't really know what my title should be except 'ultimate childcare giver'." She felt herself relax a bit but covered it with a pout as she played with one of her pigtails when she saw the detective softly smile at her. "What? do you wanna die?" She felt her cheeks heat up when she heard him chuckle.

Shuichi couldn't stop himself from thinking how cute Maki looked when she was playing with her hair. There had been times, back when they were back at Saishuu academy, where Shuichi would entertain himself with the thoughts of him and Maki dating, even if he was sure that the assassin would kill him before she would go out with him. "Nothing, it's just that it's a fitting title for someone as cute as you." Both of them froze from those words before Shuichi looked blushingly away.

"N-Never mind, let's forget I ever said anything..." Maki just made a silent nod before both got up on their legs. "I guess the inventor found and gave you the contacts before you were grabbed, since we both remember what's going on, right?" The assassin made a silent relieved sigh as her raven-haired friend made a nod, but she also knew that it would lead to some questions. "How did you know I was going to ask somebody to make something that could prevent the flashback light's effects from working?" The question made Maki look away and play with some of her hair. "I might have looked at some of your notes and thought that you would sooner or later ask someone from class 75 for this sort of favor." She made a little smile at Shuichi's surprised face, and would probably have made a comment on it if it wasn't for the fact that the sound of a door opening and two persons walked in.