Hope In Humanity (ON PAUSE)

Chapter 8

"H-how?" I spluttered, "How do you know that?" 

"Neehee! You just told me!" 

Panic coursed through me for a split second. Did I just reveal something I shouldn't have?

"Don't look so frightened Kaede, I suspect he knew from the start." Rantaro said narrowing his eyes, "I was wondering why you were being... well more cooperative than usual." 

"I actually like poker. But....yeah I knew." Kokichi said, "Kaede was trying wayyy too hard to pretend like she liked the killing game, and well... seeing as she spends all her time with you I assumed you were the same as well. So Kaede basically blew your cover Rantaro." 

I flinched slightly at that, I had believed that this whole time I had been doing a good job of pretending but-I glanced towards the purple-haired boy- clearly someone could see through the act. 

"So what's your deal? You confirmed it so now what? You here to tell us to stop?" I questioned, hostility evident in my voice. "Well we aren't going to stop! No matter what!" 

"Heeyyy Chill... I wasn't going to tell you to stop or anything." Kokichi grinned, "I was just...curious. Either way, I think we should halt our poker game for the rest of today. Until tomorrow!" The Supreme Leader gathered up the cards he brought and took them out of Rantaro's Dorm, leaving a tense air in the room. 

I let out a sigh and turned to Rantaro, as if to ask 'what now?' He just gave me a shrug in return, "Honestly Kaede, I don't think its a bad idea to have him know. For one, his motive for joining the killing game is a vague one. His definition of 'leave a mark' may very well align with our own goal." 

"You mean, you think he's trying to end the killing game as well?" I responded. 

"No clue, I can't figure that kid out." Rantaro shook his head. "But if he just killed someone, that wouldn't really be 'leaving a mark', he'd just be another culprit. Same thing with winning. There are many winners." 

"So... the only way to leave a mark is to be the one to end it all?" I questioned. "I don't know Rantaro... sounds like wishful thinking to me. Although, with your reasoning we could persuade him to join us..." I didn't really like the sound of Kokichi being an ally of all people. He was a liar, and despite his innocent looks... I couldn't trust him. 

"You don't trust him do you?" Rantaro asked, seemingly reading my mind. He smiled upon seeing my shocked face. "I have good intuition, but I get that... he's not someone you can easily trust after all. His poker game skills just proved to me that he's too good at lying." 

I just sat in silence, contemplating Rantaro's words. Kokichi wasn't someone I could trust, that's one thing. The fact that he had antagonized me... quite a lot since we first arrived didn't help matters, but even his ability to lie and act his way out of any situation... That on its own was quite disturbing. "So who else for allies then?" 

"Miu could work, I had thought Gonta at some point but... when he explained his motive, that didn't really work well." 

I let out a sigh, "If we could convince the people who have money as a motivation... well they could be good allies. Like Tenko, and Tsumugi. I would say Kirumi and Korekiyo as well.. but their... reasons for wanting money seem more dire than Tsumugi's at least." 

"Yeah. We don't really know Tenko's reason for wanting money, just that she wants it." Rantaro answered. 

Rantaro and I spent much of the rest of the night simply talking, trying to stay awake, and also trying to find potential allies. Together the two of us had ruled out a lot of potential allies, and so far the people we were planning to convince were... Tsumugi, and Miu. 

Not a very long list, but I could work with it. Rantaro did seem to want to add Kokichi as a potential ally, but perhaps out of respect for my... lack of trust of the Supreme Leader, he simply chose to avoid that topic altogether. 

And soon enough, the morning rose, it was a long night, but it couldn't have come by faster. Rantaro and I decided to get a head start to the Dining hall. Until we were cut off immediately by an announcement. 

"Everyone! Make you way to the gym right now!" Monokuma's voice was heard, shouting through the monitors. Rantaro and I immediately gave each other worried looks, but headed straight to the gym. 

When we arrived, we noticed just how tired everyone else looked. Black circles were forming around everyone's eyes. 

"Wow you all look horrible!" Monokuma jeered at us, "This is not what I expected from people as bloodthirsty as you all!" 

"What do you expect!? Even if we wanted to commit a murder, it's too hard with everyone on edge like this?" Kaito shouted back. 

"That's what Papa is here to address!" Monophanie shouted. 

Monokid shook his head up and down, "Yeah he's here to give you all a one-time offer!" 

"Upupu! Well said kids!" Monokuma praised, "In two hours, you all will be given an optional one hour... nap time. You can take your chances and fall asleep. Or you can stay awake and hope to get the jump on someone!" 

"There are a few rules!" Monotaro continued, "One, if you are going to sleep, you must sleep in ONLY your room." 

"Yeah yeah! And two-se, if you enter someone's room while they are sleeping, you MUST kill them in the hour time frame. No entering to keep watch only." Monosuke announced. 

"And finally! While you all are sleeping, your doors will be completely unlocked. And that included no barring up your room with anything. So anyone will be free to come and kill you!" Monokuma finished. 

This new deal brought both a ray of panic, and of hope into my mind. Although, I wasn't quite sure whether or not I should take the deal yet. 

"Also, you may not fall asleep before the 1 hour, but you can wake up before the 1 hour is over! And obviously no falling asleep after this one hour!" 

And with that, Monokuma and his kubs left each of us with a huge decision. I already knew that no matter the choice, this deal could only lead us to misfortune. 

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SORRY! I had like... major writer's block for the second half of this chapter, so it took me so long to come up with something to write. 

I'll be updating more so look forward to that! 

Thanks for reading as always!