WELCOME TO MY SECRET LAIR KEKEKE

You entered the cafeteria half-heartedly, thinking that, surely, a body would not be found there— It was too obvious, too much of a public area. A student was dead and that was nothing to be tactless about. However your coincidental sleuthing skills proved its self; A strong smell of bleach would hit your nose, midst this place that was at the heart of life as a teenager— the place where you break your fast and exchange morning pleasantries was now a scene of chaos. SKULL☆CRUSHER, SHSL Evil Genius had been murdered.

Mayuri quickly spun at the screaming, even for what she’d managed to overhear in Skull’s other conversations his screaming was quite loud, obviously this motive wasn’t as lame for him as it was for her. So of course she raced over to him, resting a hand on his arm.

"Calm down, hey, calm down. Everything’s gonna be just fine, all fine. There’s no way he can do this, right? No way at all, you’re fine."

"I CAN'T DO IT, NO MORE, NO MORE!!"

He was a deer in headlights-- well, if this deer were to wear a head-encompassing helmet with a rather snazzy gold finishing. In his distraught state of mind he probably wasn't even sure what he was doing or the fact someone was trying to console him. 

Skullcrusher had felt a little disconnected from the events that had transpired that past week or so, quite lost in his own head. A cacophony of restless thoughts darting in his subconscious, old feelings and memories that he had thought may never reach the light of day again. Suppressed for all that time, but still laying beneath the surface.

The weight of the current motive hit him quite hard, so to speak, a sucker punch right to reality. Past whatever ridiculous pun he might have cried out with. Hitting him where it hurt most, literally.

Though the brunt of the pain was obviously not going to hit until later on, the mere memory, the suggestion that he would go through it again was awful. He panicked.

His hands clamped against the side of his mask. 

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO."

He repeatedly refused this reality, his whole body visibly shaking. 

Akina’s eye twitched. The fact that nothing was phasing him was starting to piss her off immensely.

"You…no one will care for our ridiculous past! No one weeped for Lord Kira, and no one shall weep for you! My warning still stands, and the second that you kill, I will be there to crush your skull, Skull Crusher-dono. Farewell.”

"TATTY-BYE!"

Her face crinkled. This boy was…something else, not even seeming to take any form of pain from the interrogation. The Super High School Level Evil Genius was evidently her largest hurdle to try and enforce during her time at Hope’s Peak. Or, really, this museum.

"PATHETIC MAN? OH MY. YOU PRESUME A LOT ABOUT A PERSON WITHOUT KNOWING THEM, DON'T YOU?? KEKEKE. HOW CAN I BE 'PLAYING' AT THE VILLAIN ANYHOW! I AM LEGITIMATE!! I HAVE A BUSINESS CARD AND A SECRET LAB AND EVERYTHING! 

He wiggled his fingers.

"YOU'LL BREAK MY MASK WITH YOU? WELL THAT WOULD BE IMPRESSIVE AND MOST DECIDEDLY FATAL, AS MY MASK IS MADE OF A STRONG METAL ALLOY WHICH IF YOU COULD DENT BY FORCE WOULD PROBABLY CAVE INTO MY HEAD AND JUST IN GENERAL BE A VERY MESSY AND UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE FOR THE BOTH OF US!"

He drummed his fingers against the sides of his mask, swaying in time to the metallic sounds it made.

She ceased holding him, allowing Skull Crusher to drop to the ground. She quickly drew her shinai and pointed the end extremely close to his mask.

"That is your only warning."

Shook his head in disappointment, that couldn't possibly be the magic word!! Those were MULTIPLE words he was not at liberty to say!!

"A PLEASE AND THANK YOU WOULD'VE BEEN NICE, YOU KNOW!!"

He was dropped to the ground and landed in some kind of cross legged position, trying to ignore the slight pain in his bottom.

"WELL AREN'T I A LUCKY BOY! KEKEKE...."

"NOW, NOW, THAT IS JUST NOT TENNIS. I SEE YOU ARE BEYOND THE REALMS OF CONVERSATION! LET US NOT BE RASH. KEKEKEKEKE."

He tilted his head to the side.

"You know very well the cause! There’s a game of murder about, and someone with the literal title of ‘Super High School Level EVIL GENIUS’ would clearly have motive to kill to keep secrets swept under the rug!"

She took a few steps forward towards him, her height evident as she towered a near half-foot about him.

"OH MY, JUDGING ONES INTENTIONS BY THEIR TITLE? NOW IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN THAT IS A FORM OF PREJUDICE AND I AM FEELING PERSONALLY VICTIMIZED BY YOUR SINGLING OUT OF ME!!"

He kept his relaxed stance even as the threatening movements were made upon him. Waggling his fingers ever so often.

Akina wandered the halls after her talk with Xavier, seeking out other students to interact with, get to know some people.

And also, to pin down just where in the hell that ruffian was. 

After a good ten minutes of walking and checking behind her back, she came upon the cafeteria, where a familiar masked figure seemed to be making himself comfortable.

He placed both hand on his masks 'mouth' to emulate some kind of shocked expression.

He looked at Hoshi…

"Skully has a point dude, yer like… A live wire… Yeah pretty sure that’s what he said.

God, Skull didn’t even breath talking. How…

"Hoshi yer lookin’ pretty sick…"

Oh god, it felt like his insides were sock hoping in his body, and it did not feel radical.

"The o-only time I ever skipped a rope was neva’! Shut yer runnin m-mouth, kitty boy…" This guy was a real piece of work, huh?

Skull☆Crusher seemed slightly taken aback.

"KITTY BOY?? DO WE HAVE NICKNAMES NOW?? I DID NOT GET THE MEMO! I HAVEN'T EVEN PREPARED ANY AFFECTIONATE PSEUDONYMS!"

He really had not, did this mean he has FAILED at friendship? He shuddered to even think! He should've prepared for advance for this, but coming up with suitable titles for people was difficult.

The villain raised up his hands once Hoshi started to gag, that boy wasn't doing very well, it seemed!

"THAT DOES NOT SOUND HEALTHY, HAS SOMEONE SLIPPED YOU SOME POISON ALREADY?! IT IS A GOOD JOB YOU ARE PURGING IT YOURSELF! GOOD ON YOU, COMRADE! SURVIVE!!! YOU CAN DO IT!! KEKEKEKE!"

Wait have you ever seen him without his mask… Yoshi’s pretty sure he sleeps with that thing on… Why is the question…

"Be careful don’t end up smackin’ me on the face…"

He probably would one of these days…

"O…kay…"

He then turned to hear someone else. Oh thank god someone normal joi- Nope nevermind it was Hoshi… He was acting weird around him and Yoshi didn’t know why.

"I-I-I-I-I-I’m n-n-n-not…j-jump-py…Y-you a-are!" Hoshi stop, you’re about to probably throw up. He felt so sick, he didn’t even notice his face lighting up with a bright red hue.

He kind of ignored most of what Skull said, he only really heard the first sentence. What was up with this dude? He dressed strangely and even spoke like a madman. Though, what else would you expect from an evil genius?

"YOU ARE PRACTICALLY A LIVE WIRE MY FRIEND!! A SKIPPING ROPE!! THAT IS HOW JUMPY YOU APPEAR OUTWARDLY AT THIS MOMENT!! PERHAPS YOUR JIMMIES ARE AS THEY SAY; RUSTLED? I HEAR IT CAUSES QUITE THE DISCOMFORT!!"

He cocked his head again, tapping the side of his mask with an extended finger to accentuate his 'thinking' pose.

"OH, YES, THE 0.1% CHANCE IS THAT I HAVE ACCIDENTALLY FALLEN INTO A NARCOTICS INDUCED INCEPTION-ESQUE DREAM IN WHICH NOTHING OF THIS IS REAL AS A RESULT OF SOME FAILED EXPERIMENT I HAVE CONDUCTED! KEKEKEKE, IT WOULD EXPLAIN THE KNOWING OF MY SECRETS. HOWEVER I AM CERTAIN THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR MY MIND WOULD NEVER PRODUCE SUCH A TASTELESS EVIL MASCOT SUCH AS THAT MONOCHROME PINATA, EVEN IN A DREAM."

He waved his hand in front of his face.

Oh hey there’s someone he knew.

"Oi, Skully. Can ya believe this bullshit?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his two roommates. He hadn’t exactly spoken with the masked one, but that other guy…Thoughts of Yoshi set a chill down his spine. If only…

He nervously waked over to the two boys- well, he wasn’t really even sure if Skull was male but, lets just assume here.

"THIS SITUATION IS AKIN TO THE MARGARINE THAT DISGUISES ITSELF AS BUTTER AS A RUSE TO MAKE ONE THINK 'I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS SUBSTANCE IS NOT BUTTER!' UNBELIEVABLE!"

He flung up his arms for emphasis during his little spiel referencing a specific brand of margarine. As another joined the party, SKULL☆CRUSHER started to feel a bit popular! Despite probably only being approached because the three shared the same bed and thus had some semblance of acquaintanceship, but one can dream of being elected prom queen some day by their peers.

The villain had been making himself quite scarce the past day or two, he had already figured that they were some kind of hostages even before the announcement that there was KILLINGS TO BE DONE!! But he hadn’t expected a motive, and especially not one that was of dark secrets. Which, understandably, as an Evil Genius he had quite a number of. 

As he reached for his envelope he wondered which of his most delicious ones would be selected, after all, he was an extremely private person! There were many theories about just who he was in the public eye, and SKULL☆CRUSHER was not expecting the name at the top of the secret to be correct. 

If he weren’t wearing a mask, he might’ve paled at that moment a split-second of weakness that could only be identified to the outside viewer by his frozen position and, of course, his silence. But in the cacophony of panic or indifference by his fellow students this subtly would likely go unseen, because he recovered quickly from this moment, shoving the secret into his GIRLTECH(tm) PASSWORD DIARY for further analysis at a calmer time.

His erratic demeanor resurfacing, he cackled to no one in particular;

Ah, a quiet stroll. The perfect way to clear the mind, bring it into a perfect calm, straighten out any tangled thoughts and- jesus christ what IS that thing?!

Xavier froze mid-stride, making a concerned murmuring noise as he saw the evildoer’s… unusual getup. He coughed into his fist, watching SKULL☆CRUSHER from a distance, pondering whether he should throw holy water and run or not.

Come on, Xavier, he thought to himself, that’s barely polite. Drawing a breath, he approached the oddly-dressed crook, giving him a brief tap on the shoulder and stepping back.

"…"

However, the evil genius was lost in the deep catacombs of his mind when he was brought back into reality via a tap to the shoulder which made him jump quite visibly, before studying the person before him.

When it became clear after a few moments of silence that he would have to be the first to speak he began to introduce himself in a most animated way, lifting his arms and performing various gestures as he spoke

Skull☆Crusher welcomed a bit of spontaneity in his life. It kept things fresh. More interesting! Even for a renown evil genius the same old routine of evil-doing would get monotonous! However this was a most peculiar situation, a situation that he was analyzing, making quite thoughtful sounds which would reverberate inside his mask, amplifying them. 

The sudden skip between Hope’s Peak and this museum-like place was ODD. He wondered if he had somehow traveled across the multiverse to appear at the museum with some sort of warp drive, but that WOULDN’T explain the multiple people (of whom he assumed were other students) that were also there. 

He papped his hand against the side of his mask.  

"HM. I HAVE ENDED UP IN STRANGER PLACES." 

He really had. A wild night with SKULL☆CRUSHER was truly wild, after all. 

Oh, well, it didn’t seem like there was anything threatening going on just yet, apart from the suspicious steel wall barring them from possible escape.  

[text] I HAVE NO MEMORY OF THIS 

[text] ARE YOU SUGGESTING I HAVE APPEARED IN YOUR DREAMS?? IF SO I AM CONFUSED AND FLATTERED 

[text] HOLD ON I SHALL CONVEY THIS

[text] > //// < 

[Text]: first u said wewes then wemes and now its mememes???

[Text]: what is it skull

[text] OR PERHAPS THAT WAS PART OF MY PLAN ALL ALONG