GOING DOWN THE RAILS OF A CRAZY TRAIN

Kasie took deep breaths before she plastered a shaky grin on her face, awkwardly stepping onto stage with must reluctance. She hadn’t expected to be this nervous, but then again, she had to suck it up! After all, she was the one who had asked Daichi to perform with her, so that’s why she had to follow up on her words. All she had to do was remind herself that these were all familiar faces. The tracker coughed briefly to clear her throat before she shook her hands in reminiscence of jazz hands. “Welcome to the daring Damnichi- I mean Darnichi- I mean, DAICHI’s dastardly and hopefully not disastrous magic show!” The young police officer stepped on stage during that thrilling introduction. He didn’t even try to hide the confusion on his face, raising a brow as he made his way over to Kasie. With every step the black cloak tied around his neck swayed and floated above the ground. He couldn’t help but think of Nagisi.

Once in his spot he gave a small bow to the audience and smiled. “Good afternoon! Be prepared to… erm, be amazed by the not so disastrous tricks we have in store.”

Daichi moved the cloak from his side and reached into his jacket pocket. From within one of the inside pockets he revealed what appeared to be a set of pink fuzzy handcuffs, face now a deep shade of red. “F-For our first trick… w..well, you’ll see. Kasie? Could you turn around?” Daichi waited until his partner was facing the other way before locking her hands together behind her back. “Now then….” He looked towards the other side of the stage as he began to search inside his jacket pocket for something else.

Eeeeee! It was the pink handcuffs! They were so adorable! Kasie beamed, her earlier anxieties went out the window, as she caught sight of them. Well, they weren’t so much in sight when they were clasping her hands behind her. Maybe they could skip onto the next trick. After all, she kind of… wanted to keep the handcuffs to herself. They were just so fluffy! Plus, they came with a little safety notch. With a flick of a thumb, she unlocked the handcuffs with no problem and sheepishly shoved them into her pocket.

"Tadah! The handcuffs magically disappeared! Now, onto our second trick!"

"Wait, what?"

Daichi turned around. This wasn’t part of the trick at all! He quickly looked at the audience, as if searching for some explanation, then looked back at Kasie.

"… No, no no. Those were part of the trick. You’re going to have to put those back on. Where’d you put them?"

Kasie merely whistled as innocently as she could, eyes unable to stare right into Daichi’s own. She gestured vaguely to nothing in particular, trying to figure out a direction where she could use as an excuse.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. They vanished. Just like magic! Good job, Daichi!" Daichi was not having any of this. They had an agreement, didn’t they? Daichi could keep the handcuffs while Kasie could have-

"Oh no you don’t. I’m the magician here. If you’re not going to hand them over then I’ll take them back by force."

He stepped over to Kasie and without warning reached out for her pocket. Like hell was he going to be embarrassed in front of everyone because she couldn’t keep her greedy mitts off his stuff!

… Wait, what?

Daichi had found the pair of handcuffs alright… along with something else. He tugged the cuffs out of her pocket and found that they were attached to something.

"….?"

Slowly he pulled on the handcuffs, revealing that they were attached to a pair of underwear. Why was he not surprised? He would have scolded her on the spot if it wasn’t for the fact that the pair of underwear was tied to… another pair? And another. And another.

And another. And another. They just kept coming until a pair from presumably each student all slipped out. Uh-oh. Her cover was blown. Her hands immediately latched onto the rope of undies and tugged with all her strength. There was no way Daichi was getting /his/ greedy mitts all over /her/ stuff.

"That’s illegal! I’m going to have to arrest you for theft of /my/ underwear! You get a time-out in the corner of loneliness! Bad Daichi!"

Daichi wanted nothing to do with the rope of undies. He waited for a moment where Kasie wasn’t using a lot of force to pull at the rope before letting go, sighing. “We’ll talk about this later. We still have a show to run!”

He looked back at the audience and flashed a nervous smile. “O-Onto the next part of our act!” He revealed a deck of cards and displayed them for the audience before starting to shuffle them.

"Alright, Kasie. I’m going to have you pick a card. But don’t show it to me, alright? Here, I’ll even look away."

The officer displayed fanned out all 52 cards in his hand for the tracker to pick from. Once a card was in her hand Daichi folded the cards back together and turned around.

Ace of Hearts. Oh! She knew just the thing of what to do with it. It’d be perfect! Hopefully, Daichi wouldn’t mind too much if she did this. After all, it was the least he could do since he did take back the handcuffs from her. The nerve of that lemon at times! Either way, she knew the routine of this trick. She made sure to show the card to the judges to confirm before she whipped out a small pen from her pocket to jot a tiny note down on it.

It was only until she was finished before she turned around to tap Daichi on the shoulder while discreetly slipping the card down the other’s pants. “I’m all done memorizing the card! The judges are too!”

"Ah? Done already?" Daichi turned around and displayed the deck to her, fanned out like before. "Place the card in the deck and I’ll shuffle it up!"

Kasie merely gave Daichi a sheepish smile as she shrugged, opening her hands out to reveal that the card was no longer in her lands.

"Daichi, I kind of lost the card. It disappeared by magic. Sooo, like, it’s exactly where you might expect it to be. Like, if you know me by now."

"Wh…?"

Wasn’t he supposed to be the one doing the magic tricks!? Slowly Daichi fanned the cards back into a nicely stacked deck.

"…. Kasie. Where… Am I going to have to search your pockets?!"

Kasie merely kept quiet with the exception of the occasional giggle. Her only answer to Daichi’s question was having her eyes trail down towards Daichi’s pants.

He didn’t like where her eyes were going. He almost forgot about the judges, cheeks slowly becoming rosy and his neck becoming quite toasty under his collar and tie.

"….. You didn’t…"

NYOOM. Kasie bolted off the stage before Daichi could send her off to be arrested. As the tracker pranced away with laughter, she made sure to chime in her last words before she made her way into a different cart. “And that’s all, folks!”

Ellison quietly sat at the judges table, waiting for the acts to begin. When Eadric came onstage, all he was expecting was a wonderful reenactment of a Shakespearean scene.

He was not expecting this.

"I... Whoa."

The cookies were delicious, but not Ellison's favorite.

The stage was empty for a few moments, before Akihiro stepped up, violin and bow in hand. He stood to face the audience, his back straight for once, his face a little more relaxed than normal. This time, he was in his element. 

He gently cleared his throat, before standing to address the crowd in front of him.

"I'm going t-to b-be performing 'Obsession' by Eugene Y-Ysaye."

Raising the violin to its proper position, he placed the bow above the strings, taking a deep breath before bringing it down, striking the strings and beginning the piece.

His focus was unbroken as he breezed through the piece. No flaws, no screw ups, no pauses, no stops; he had this one completely memorized, and his practice put into playing showed.

The dynamics were there, the phrasing, the tempo, it was all taken into consideration, and put into the performance; for once, Akihiro didn't look nervous or timid at all. He was confident. His expression was focused, his back was straight, and every movement of the bow was powerful, and had purpose.

There was undoubtedly something odd about holding a talent show in their current situation, but Arthur has to admit it's nice to have something to focus on at least. After everything that's happened, especially the conversation he'd had with Hinagiku... a distraction is definitely something he needed, even if he's never actually been in a talent show before and isn't completely sure of the protocol. At first he doesn't even intend to participate, seeing as the talent he'd been scouted for by the academy isn't exactly one that lends itself to public demonstrations. However it occurs to him that the talents they use don't necessarily have to be the ones in their titles- at least, he didn't hear any rules that said as much.

So, Arthur decides to utilize one of his other skills. Namely, his ability to bake- something he'd developed over years of preparing his own food... on the occasions he actually remembered to eat. When the announcement is made that the show is starting, Arthur heads for the kitchen and gets started. Cookies seem like the best choice, they don't take too much time to make and he has a lot of experience with them.

After around twenty minutes, the cookies are finished- which probably places him as one of the last "performances" but he doesn't mind. He isn't expecting to win anyway, it just feels nice to actually be a part of something.

Arthur carries the plates of finished red velvet cookies to the caboose and, uncertain of what exactly he's meant to say, he silently places them on the table in front of the judges.

Eadric was never nervous when performing in front of a large amount of people, despite their lack of human contact for the most part. That kind of shamelessness only came from someone utterly obsessed with the dramatic arts, which was a perfect description of themselves. They strode onto the stage with complete confidence.

"Hello, everyone! Today I will be performing Hamlet by William Shakespeare on my own, although I will be performing the short, modern adaptation for your enjoyment! Only because it's shorter, mind you. Ahem."

They cleared their throat and then placed some sunglasses on their face, waiting for the music to start. When they did they began to rap in a terribly posh British accent.

"To be or not to be That is the question It seems I'm going mad Losing my discretion Seems, nay, it is I know not, seems To wake or to sleep Perchance to dream There's something rotten In the state of Denmark It's midnight at the castle Elsinor went "hark" Who's your brother in law? Who's your brother in law, eh!? Yo mom that's my uncle Get off my dad's grave. 'Son I've been unnaturally murdered Oh cursed spite' The time is out of joint I've got to set it right I must avenge my father And kill Claudius I'm gonna start by acting nuts And talking to the audience Hey, Hamlet, if you love me, Why are you shunning me? I never loved thee, Go get thee to a nunnery Hey, nonny nonny And a nonny nonny hey Gather round everybody For a play within a play I poison you! I be illin'! You're smiling, I'm smilin'? You must be a villain He didn't kill your dad Not that we'd admit it I know she's my mom But she's hot I want to hit it This curtain really makes me want to do something erroneous This isn't who I meant to kill This is, this is Polonius Gentle Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Bring us known in Hamlets plans And you'll get killed in turn Sorry! Hamlet, I'm so mad Hey there's my dead dad I'm gonna go drown myself now 'Cause I'm sad To be or not to be That is the question It seems I'm going mad Losing my discretion Yo Hamlet, we've already heard those lines, Just cut to the part where everyone starts dyin'! Alas, poor Yorrick Oh, my God, Ophelia's dead This may be my last chance To get her in bed Hamlet, you scoundrel That's my sister you're boffin' Put on the grand duel Right here by the coffin But first, let me poison this cup Yo what is up now, Hamlet? What up? I'm going to kill you with this poisoned sword of mine Oh you will? Yeah Yeah? Yeah Yeah?  Yeah Fine  OW Now it's on You're going to get stuck Here's to Hamlet! Don't drink it! Oh, no, fuck! That poison was meant for you Now you've killed my mom It's time to do this I've waited way too long Good God I've been bled! And the poison has spread I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying You're dead! Have flights of angels sing me to thy ditch I'm Fortenbras of Norway, I'm taking over this bitch!"

When the music went quiet they stopped and took of the glasses, before smiling gleefully.

"I hope you enjoyed that! Thank you!"

It's been so long without hearing from either Mononeko or Monomausu. You begin to wonder what happened to them. Perhaps you were in the process of being rescued? Was this nightmare over, at the sacrifice of three classmates? The answer was no. Your mod, Sara, has just been unorganized and stupid. Who's Sara? You're not sure. You're not even sure what a mod is. All you know is that an announcement is made to gather at the caboose, where you all first met, and there's Monomausu. He looks really proud of himself.

"Sheesh, you kids and your technology..Not sure how you manage it, honestly. Took me a while to figure it out, but here it is!"

On Cue, the screens behind him and the ones on your tablet light up with the following:

------TALENT SHOW------

JUDGE: MONOMAUSU

CO-JUDGES: ELLISON, GREG,ROXY, ARISU, IRIE

ACTS:

AKIHIRO [COMPOSING]

AKIRA [PERFORMING]

EADRIC [RAP]

ARATA [TONGUE TWISTERS]

KAISE/DAICHI [MAGIC DUO]

HINAGIKU [HARMONICA]

ARTHUR [BAKING]

*Those performing will have the chance of winning a MYSTERY PRIZE.

**JUDGES CAN NOT WIN PRIZES BUT WILL HELP CHOOSE WHO WILL WIN.

A talent show? Is this what the mouse was doing when he was scurrying around and asking you whether you had a performance you wanted to do or not? It was a bit silly. It was very silly. But at least you weren't killing each other.

How bad could this be?

[[HI EVERYONE IT'S MOD SARA SORRY FOR BEING SO ABSENT BUT BASICALLY SOME RULES:

order doesn't matter

judges have the OPTION of submitting AFTER an ACT and their reactions can be published WHENEVER.

Judges ARE recquired to send their votes for their favorite acts at the end of the show.

The show ends once all the acts have been performed.

Performers: write a post with your act and anything you believe should be in it. Go nuts.

The rider had been unusually silent since the trial, her bun a little more disheveled than usual, taking her time to change out of her pajamas and sitting on her bed cross-legged in her white shorts and her pink unicorn t-shirt, writing in her pink journal. The TV screen turned on and Monomausu's words rang through the speakers. The girl blinked and seemed to light up completely, Monomausu's words having such an effect on her.

It was all going to be fine, just like it was supposed to! She stared at the screen and smiled widely, looking over to Arisu. She jumped to her feet so quickly she almost stumbled over and dropped her journal, catching it again in midair. The pages of the thing didn't even crumple, and it snapped shut nicely. 

"Did you hear!" Irie asked, smiling to Arisu. Of course Arisu had heard. It's not like you missed a huge announcement. Probably. It was Arisu. "This is great- Soon we'll be at Hope's Peak Academy like we are supposed to be! Mononeko can't do a thing anymore!" She was promptly forgetting or actively ignoring the fact it had been said one of the students controlled that thing. Irie crouched next to her bags and got herself a brush- Or so she meant to, because she noticed something far more interesting.

The mood throughout the train was icky. Even if she felt down herself, the fact that everyone was all gloom and doom made the atmosphere even worse. That’s why she made the decision to clear her throat and announce to every member on the train.

"<If someone could, like, translate, for me, I’d really appreciate it. Anyway, we should all have a talent show. Just to lighten the air and to see how awesome, like, everyone is! I mean, everything has been really… bad, but being bad doesn’t always mean it has to be bad all the time!>"

YES HELLO THIS IS SARA (MONONEKO MOD)

I GOT BUSY THIS WEEK WITHOUT...MEANING TO.>IT WAS MY BIRTHADY ANAD MY BOYFRIEND'S BIRTHDAY

AND NEXT WEEK I hAVE A PLAY AND A MIDTERM SO ILL CONTINOUSLY BE BUSY

WHAT IM SAYING HERE IS:

THERE WILL NOT BE A MURDERE NEXT WEEK

HOWEVER,m IF I CAN HAVE SOMEONE HELP RUN THE TALENT SHOW WHO'S A PART OF THIS GROUP, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

It was night. She should have been asleep. She really should have been, but she couldn't. Not when she was terrified about how fragile this thing called friendship was. Not when she was so desperate to keep these relationships from crumbling. Not when she still saw Chou's face of horror whenever she closed her eyes. 

Roxie never really showed her thoughts on the execution. As soon as it was over, she simply left the room. She didn't break down like other people had; no, she kept a blank face.

Some might've called her heartless, Roxie would've called it growth.

Daichi stared down at his tablet and felt uneasy. Two trials later and now Monomausu had miraculously 'trapped' Mononeko with a 6% chance of success. Something horribly fishy was going on. He couldn't trust the mouse as much as he could trust the cat, in all honesty. animals had no place on trains.

Slipping the tablet back into his pocket, the young officer decided it was time to start investigating the new areas. There was still no answer as to how long they would be on this god forsaken train so it was best to learn what resources were now at their disposal. Daichi had given up on the idea of finding an exit but that certainly didn't mean he shouldn't go through the motions of looking for one.

Without a second to lose Daichi began making his way through the kitchen. As he stepped into the Quiet Room a chill ran down his spine and arms, remembering what had happened here not too long ago. The silence of the room didn't help quell the cold, heavy feeling in his chest. It was like walking through a cemetery. His footsteps echoed off the walls and he couldn't help but feel he was being watched by ghosts. Several long strides later he was in the Game Room, and as quickly as he walked in the officer found himself stepping out into a unfamiliar room that seemed completely out of place for a train. A... A ballroom? Daichi took his time glancing around, taking in every detail. He immediately noticed that the windows were painted on but it was the doors that held his attention. Were they... real? With a shaky hand he reached out for the handle of one of the nearby doors. It was cold. It was cold and real. Daichi's heart fluttered in his chest. The back of his mind told him to not get his hope up but his heart told him to not give in, that everything might be alright if he turned the handle and-

A wall.

There was a god damned wall on the other side of this bullshit door.

Daichi stood there for what felt like years. It was a surprise that a hole hadn't been burned in the wall from the intensity of his glare.

Once again, there was nothing to be hopeful about.

Things had gone back to normal, it seemed. The train kept moving, the earth kept spinning, and everyone who remained kept on living. Things always went back to functioning, didn’t they?

So, when he heard the new about Mononeko being trapped, he merely shook his head. Could they really get out? He doubted it. After all, a trap this elaborate and complex was going to be hard to get out of. He doubted they were all capable of doing such a thing. After all, they couldn’t even find the murderer in the first trial, and even though they did in the second, people were still too hesitant to act on voting. How were they supposed to properly investigate this entire debacle if they couldn’t even investigate the evidence for one murder? Akihiro saw no point to all of this.

The votes were counted, and from the ceiling of the room, a metal claw descended, snatching Chou away. Irie swallowed back, frowning. This was the first- First so called execution. The equestrian couldn’t have imagined it being like this. She hadn’t even talked to Chou properly. Was the girl even her friend? She was a murderer, that was for certain. What was fair and what was not? She tried to whip air with her riding crop. Old habits died hard, even if she didn’t have the crop any longer.

There was always right and wrong, Irie was certain- But was this right or wrong? It was all Mononeko’s fault, or was it? After all, maybe they could’ve defeated the cat together. Irie didn’t know anymore, stuck in place, her eyes glued on the gruesome display. She could only spare a glance to her classmates just before the star nonchalantly impaled the girl she hadn’t had the chance to get to know.

Irie only stared at the pool of blood spreading underneath the girl, swallowing back tears. Before having a chance to feel sick, tears rose in her eyes and filled her vision. Everything was just a blur, and Irie drew in an uneven breath, pressing her gloved hands to her face. She didn’t want this, no. As positive as she was, it was becoming harder and harder to believe in anything, and it was eating her up inside.

After the trial, Ellison had spent most of his time playing. Song after song after song after song. He only stopped for food and bathroom breaks and he just kept playing on and on.

The only time he truly stopped was when the startling announcement came over the PA system.

"...Mononeko... captured?"