Even though it's scary, we have to keep fighting.

So, do you like Monster AUs? Look no further than here, since I have a discord server ready and made for that particular AU. All 16 V3 students are monsters ( with like…maybe one of them being a human ) and attending Hope’s Peak Academy to better learn how to control and utilise their monstrous abilities for good. The only problem is they’re teenagers, and we all know how unpredictable they can be…

│⚙️│ For the past week, Kibo had felt…off. Not particularly off enough to be considered fully ill, but enough so he noticed a slight change in health and behaviour. He was sleeping far less at night. He was getting headaches more frequently. And for some random reason, his temperature would fluctuate from feverish levels to cooling extremely fast. The yo-yo that was his health was beginning to annoy him, and he’d gone about his normal business that week without complaint.

However, today was far different. Kibo had intended to wake up and tidy around the house before he went out for the day, but his body had absolutely refused to move. So, as much as he hated it, the roboticist remained bundled up in blankets on his bed. He had wished to watch a few movies on his laptop to pass the time, but the splitting headache he’d woken up to had refused to go away. Texting Kaede, he messaged her to bring home painkillers once she was able to. And once she finally did return back home, Kibo barely responded to her entering the room.

His head was buried underneath his pillows, his body shaking and sweating simultaneously. The only sign that shown he’d actually heard Kaede enter was a weak wave of his left hand.

             { ♫ } “Don’t apologize for something you can’t control! Of course I’d rush back when you tell me that you’re so sick, you need medicine for it!” Kaede said with a bit of force as she walked into the room. Anger born of worry at its finest. Luckily, it was currently night time, so she was able to move about freely without being worried about getting caught in the sun.

“Mizuki..!” Kaede reached out and took her sister’s hand. She smiled brightly, cheerfully. She knew how her sister thought of her violin playing… It saddened the elder twin. She was always mesmerized by Mizuki’s ability. If only she thought the same too.

             { ♫ } “A-Ah, Kaede...” Mizuki spoke nervously as her elder sister held her hand. Kaede was also so good about being supportive when she was feeling more than a little self-conscious about her musical talents... Even if those moments were happening practically 24/7.

pffft, only five? those are amateur numbers

              { ♫ } “Oh, right… Your evil organization…” Kaede said, her tone of voice and the expression on her face showing that she had completely forgotten that Kokichi was in charge of such an organization. Of course, after what happened to her these past few weeks, she could be forgiven for forgetting such a thing, right?

“Well… I hope they let us both go soon… I may be injured, but at least I can still play the piano, so I can still get use out of my talent…”

{❧} —- “Yep! It won’t run itself. It needs me there. So I gotta get out of here sooner or later so I can get back to what I was doing. Nishishi.~”

At the mention of her piano talent, he nodded. She still knows how to play the piano. That had to mean something, right? Kokichi shook his head, trying to get the negative thoughts out for the time being. Time to change the subject.

             { ♫ } “...Vaguely, yes.” Kaede responded after a few moments of thinking. Honestly, it was hard to remember a lot of things right now. But she did have some faint recollection of Kokichi asking her such a thing.

              { ♫ } “If you say so, Ouma-kun…” Kaede could see that Ouma clearly didn’t want her to press on about this topic, so she decided to just leave it alone and let Ouma tell her whenever he was ready.

“So, what happened after you were found by… these people? Did they say anything to you…?”

{❧} —- “Uh… They cured my poisoning, and helped take care of my other wounds, but they didn’t tell me much yet. I hope they do soon though. My evil organization won’t run itself! Nishishi…~””

              { ♫ } “Oh, right... Your evil organization...” Kaede said, her tone of voice and the expression on her face showing that she had completely forgotten that Kokichi was in charge of such an organization. Of course, after what happened to her these past few weeks, she could be forgiven for forgetting such a thing, right?

               { ♫ } “You… Sounds upset about something, Ouma-kun…” Kaede commented, looking at Kokichi’s face and noticing that his expression had soured just a bit. “Is everything alright…? I mean… Obviously it’s a lot to take in that we’re… supposed to be dead and all, but you seem upset about something besides that.”

{❧} —- “Huh? Nah. You’re imagining things, Akamatsu-chan. I’m as okay as okay can get with almost dying and everything!”

              { ♫ } “If you say so, Ouma-kun...” Kaede could see that Ouma clearly didn’t want her to press on about this topic, so she decided to just leave it alone and let Ouma tell her whenever he was ready.

               { ♫ } “Well, I’m glad to see that we’re both still alive… It’s certainly very lucky, especially considering… What I was made to go through.” Kaede said, her already quiet voice trailing off at the end of her sentence. She didn’t exactly like recalling these events, after all.

“So… How have you been since the last time I saw you, Amami-kun…? Besides almost dying, that is.”

{❧} —- “I’ve been resting. Other than that, I think I’m doing fine right now.”

He still didn’t know what she was talking about, and now he was just getting more curious about it. So against his better judgement, he decided that he should just ask the other what was happening.

              { ♫ } Kaede’s hands began to shake as Rantaro asked the question she had been dreading this whole time. She hated talking about the fact that she was made to go through an execution at all, so the last thing she wanted to do was recall what exactly her execution was. But, Rantaro deserved an answer, so Kaede answered, but only after a few moments of silence.

“It feels... surreal to talk about. First, Monokuma grabbed me by my neck using a rope. Then he dragged me off... to some really big piano. He flung my body around by the neck all over the keys to play a song. And he kept doing it... faster and faster, with the song getting more and more off-key...”

               { ♫ } “I hope there’s more than just the two of us… It would be pretty upsetting if we were the only two that survived, especially because we weren’t meant to be alive at all…” Kaede said, before quickly trying to shake that thought from her mind. There was no point in being pessimistic, after all.

“So, um… Outside of almost dying… How… Have you been, Ouma-kun…?”

{❧} —- “I don’t think that it’ll be just the two of us. There has to be at least two others. Remember? The game stops when there’s two people left. So there has to be at least two more if they think that we’re dead. If they broke their own rules and tried to have everyone die that would be boring.”

Kokichi shrugged, it made sense to him. He wasn’t dead and neither was Kaede. That meant there had to be more people, right?

{❧} —- “I… I’ve been alright. Yeah I’m fine.”

               { ♫ } Kaede couldn’t help but wince a little bit as she heard what had happened to Rantaro. It certainly sounded painful, and that came from someone who had been dangled around by her neck like a ragdoll.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Amami-kun… But at least you survived…” She said, trying to look on the positive side of things. “At least we’re both still here, even though we probably shouldn’t be… Heheh… Heh…”

{❧} —- “Haha… Yeah. Maybe I can figure out my talent huh?”

Rantaro certainly had a lot of free time. But he did know his talent. He knew about it since the beginning. His survivor perk monopad gave him the knowledge of the secret room in the library after all.

That wasn’t going to stop him from acting like he didn’t remember it, though that was out of habit rather than actually trying to hide it.

               { ♫ } “Well, I’m glad to see that we’re both still alive... It’s certainly very lucky, especially considering... What I was made to go through.” Kaede said, her already quiet voice trailing off at the end of her sentence. She didn’t exactly like recalling these events, after all.

                { ♫ } “Ah, it’s good to see you too, Amami-kun…” Kaede said, her voice even weaker than Rantaro’s. “I’ve been better… After my… e-execution…” She couldn’t avoid saying that word forever, after all.

“I was found by… people who saved me from that game. But… The execution did a lot of damage to my throat… And my spine… So that’s why I’m… Like this.”

{❧} —- “Ah… That’s awful, but I’m glad you’re alive at least… I… Don’t really know what happened myself. One moment I was in the library, a shot put fell next to me, then someone hit me from behind. And the next I was here and waking up from what was apparently a coma…”

               { ♫ } Kaede couldn’t help but wince a little bit as she heard what had happened to Rantaro. It certainly sounded painful, and that came from someone who had been dangled around by her neck like a ragdoll.

                { ♫ } “It would have been awful if I had died at all…” Kaede said, coughing just a little bit more as her face fell. Clearly, she didn’t like talking about this sort of thing, as evident by the fact that her body was shaking slightly. However, she tried to keep her emotions in check as she continued on.

“It’s… good to see that you didn’t die either. I was worried… After I was… you know… I was worried that nobody would make it out of that game…”

“It’s good to see you’re in better shape than I am… It’s hard living like this, but at least I’m alive.”

{❧} —- “Well… I almost died. I was going to die of poison if… Well. If what happened didn’t happen. If the guy that saved me didn’t show up I would be dead right now. But he did. So here I am!”

Kokichi decided it was best if he didn’t mention his plan involving him being crushed to death in a hydraulic press. Seeing Kaede’s current state, he couldn’t help but feel bad about what happened to her.

               { ♫ } “I hope there’s more than just the two of us... It would be pretty upsetting if we were the only two that survived, especially because we weren’t meant to be alive at all...” Kaede said, before quickly trying to shake that thought from her mind. There was no point in being pessimistic, after all.