Garden Ronpa

With the biomes’ reality falling apart all around them, the students end up congregating at the base of the oak tree once more. The snake hasn’t called them there this time, no. As they all stare in various stages of confusion at their IDs, it’s now Haruka who calls them to act. The real question becomes how...

Everything has gone very suddenly quiet in the biomes. The absence of noise is as jarring as the dissonant overabundance from before was. The bugs are gone. The weather has cleared. There is not so much as a breath of wind in the air. Everything is still, and dead quiet.

The beep of the students' IDs shatters the silence, but when they pick them up to check what has happened, they find not the usual display, but a black screen. Plain text in stark white has appeared on it...

It's a very unsettling thing, when one's senses don't quite match up with each other. When you hear something and can't see it, or feel something and can't find the source...

The leaves rustle in the trees, but the rustling is distinctly delayed. The thunder in the storming biomes comes before the lightning. The flight paths of the bugs start in one place, then suddenly appear in another place entirely, and continue on as though nothing has happened.

Reality is breaking.

The students will awake to something very unusual indeed today! While the main biome seems perfectly alright, the surrounding biomes are gripped by terrible weather once more. Only, this time something seems to have got a bit... confused. You see, it's snowing in the desert. 

Upon further inspection, stepping into the tundra brings you face to face with a wall of heat, the jungle biome's river has dried up and it's much hotter than it should be in there, the garden biome is suffering from a severe rainstorm, and the ocean biome at first appears to be leaking, before it becomes clear that it's only raining. Inside the walkways. 

Something doesn't seem right. 

The plants are growing, the breeze gentle, and the newly appeared bugs are... bugging. But there's something wrong today, and the kids can all feel it. Like there's something just behind them, that if they turn quickly enough, they'll catch it, whatever that thing may be. A sensation like watching a glass falling towards concrete ground, where time slows, but nothing can be done to stop it breaking...

The students' IDs make that ever-familiar update ping, but strangely, nothing seems to have actually updated on them. Surely something has changed through?

After sifting through various belongings, someone finally pulls out the pamphlet from long ago, depicting the origins of the gardens of Denev. But before their very eyes.... something strange occurrs....

The day dawns as it usually does, and students arise in their own time. Breakfast is made, hair is brushed, clothes are changed into. A single fly buzzes around lazily...

Wait, hold on, a fly?

Yesss, that'sss right! Ueda Rin killed herself!

But... there will sssstill be a death tonight. Oh yesss.

The students look to each other in a mild panic. What?! Monopython's hissing laughter fills the chamber, growing steadily more distorted as it echoes, almost sounding unlike his own, belonging to another...

Commen̴c̀ic̵̨į̸̶n҉g̷̢ ̨̨̡

                        e̢̲͖̦̱͍̟̟͂ͮ̀x͋ͮ̚҉̵̪͕͕͈̲͈̭̥́e̢̡̫̖̥ͯ̒̒͠c͕͙͎̈̉ͫ̀̚ṷ̸͙̟͙͉͈̠̭̂͆̾̍ͥ͊̏̈́̊͠ẗ̥̞̩͎͔͇̣̼ͫ́̒i̗͈̙͛͛͐̇͛̀ͨ̚o̴̷̙̫͕̳̻̥͔̽̔͂̏ͩ͛̌͌ͅn̵̪̝̲̮̤ͤ̂̊̈͞͠!̧̞͔̩̣̓̃͐͠

Victim: Ueda Rin

Cause of Death: Drowning

Time of Death: 7:34am

Time of Discovery: 8:12am

Wearily, Shichiro rises from fitful sleep fairly early in the morning, rolling out of bed just after 7:30am. Lingering in his room a little longer, he eventually wanders out to make food, and then makes his way outside. Here he bumps into Kaori, who was sitting on her porch looking thoughtful until he arrived. She waves and he returns it, and soon the door of Hydrangea hut opens as well, revealing Minsoo stretching and yawning. Kaori suggests they take a morning walk, and the other two agree. Not an awful lot else to do.

They chat in fits and starts but all of them are tired to some degree, so conversation is difficult. At least they have the company of each other. Eventually, they make it to the ocean biome, where light filters down tinged blue by the water above. As they continue onward, however, Minsoo notices something unusual. A discarded air canister is laying in the middle of the floor. As he goes to put it back, his head turns, and he looks through the windows of the airlock. The canister clatters back to the floor, and the other two run to see what has shocked him so. Sure enough, the airlock is flooded, and inside is...

"Good day everyone! To the oak tree, if you pleasssse."

The python seems a lot more cheerful than usual, apparently. This does not reassure the students any as they make their way to the usual spot.

Sun sets on the biomes once more. Or, the students assume the sun sets - the light seems to dim in every biome they go to, though there is no visible sun to be casting that light. Either way, soon they are plunged into darkness. With the pathways, as always, lit by small lights at their edges, it's still easy to get about, and they have plenty of time before 10pm. Though naturally some of them might be a little skittish about going out at so late an hour when most of the previous murders occurred shortly before bedtime, someone might find it prudent to take a trip to the Ocean Biome after dark.