Chapter Text
The first alarm almost made Isono fall out of bed. At first, a horrible feeling stirred and she couldn’t help but think:
That’s not for a body, is it?
The alarm is relentless, repeating every few seconds and digging through Isono’s eardrums with hostile intensity. Burying itself inside her skull. She hastily throws her clothes on, her shirt might be backwards and one sock is more rolled up than the other when she stumbles into the hallway. She’s half-hazardly putting her hair up as she dashes past the other dorms. She doesn’t see anyone else.
I must be late. Gosh darn it.
Her legs scream at her as she runs down the hallway, not used to such strain so quickly. Isono briefly berates herself for how pathetic that is.
When Isono bursts into the auditorium, she’s fairly certain she looks like she just ran a marathon and that her pigtails are obnoxiously crooked.
“I-I’m sorry I’m late! I was getting dressed!” Her excuse is as half-put together as the rest of her, and Isono briefly feels envious for the students who look normal despite getting there before her.
Sasaki, on point as always, moves on. “Who are we missing?” Clear, concise. Hayashi is quick to answer. “It’s Hasegawa and Kamimura again-” Isono briefly ponders on that.
They’ve been together a lot recently. Are they an item?
“-And Wada” Isono briefly scans the room. Her loyal friend is indeed absent.
“We’re here, chill.” Kamimura’s gruff tone manages to snag Isono’s attention, all the while the alarm continues to blare overhead.
Isono takes a deep breath as Kamimura confirms him and Hasegawa didn’t see Wada in the hall. Tamba offers to go get him before Isono can even think of volunteering. Luckily, a search isn’t needed.
“Tamba has to go where?” Wada’s meek cadence brings an end to the horrid alarm, and Isono could cry.
“Thank you students. I welcome you to our first school assembly. I’ve gathered you here to make an announcement.” Monomoko’s dry, emotionless tone on the other hand, makes Isono want to cry for a completely different reason.
A brief resistance takes hold amongst Yanagi and Hayashi, but Monomoko is unfazed.
“I stated three days ago that the only way out of this building was by getting away with killing another student. Despite this, have you may have noticed, a killing has not taken place. As a result of your current sentiments, we’ve decided to introduce a new set of rules to motivate you.”
Isono briefly held her breath. She did not like the sound of that at all.
“These rules will be considered official and enforceable into the next killing takes place.” Isono officially hated this meeting.
“Until the next killing takes place. Students will be assigned to pairings. Each paring will be linked together by a set of handcuffs.”
“E-excuse me?!” Hiroaki’s objection comes out as a screech, and Isono feels her shoulders rise in tension. Sasaki seems just as angry, but she manages her emotions into something far more productive.
“How long will we be linked to each other per day?” Isono is impressed, Sasaki’s voice has no noticeable waver.
“You will have three hours everyday to disconnect your handcuffs. You may independently choose when you would like to disconnect your handcuffs. To disconnect your handcuffs, please press the blue button on the right cuff.”
Surprisingly, Tsuno speaks up next, “W-what happens if we disconnect for longer than three hours?” It’s a fair question.
“Both parties will be punished.” Monomoko doesn’t elaborate, and no one presses her on it.
“Who will we be assigned to? Do we get to pick?” Sasaki is quick to reign back control, and the last question cannot hide her hopefulness.
“No. Each pair will be called up to receive their handcuffs.” A brief silence lingers, but is broken easily.
“This seems like a dumb motive. I mean, unless you, like, hate your partner’s guts.” Isono goes over everyone in her head, sure she wouldn’t like to be stuck to some of them for 21 hours a day, but she wouldn’t kill over that, would she? She could see someone like Hayashi possibly doing it, though.
“Miki Isono, please step forward.” Isono almost freezes like a deer caught in headlights, but she balls her fists and steps forward towards the table behind Monomoko that she swears wasn’t there before.
“Masanri Wada, please step forward.” Relief floods through Isono. Being chained to Wada? She could handle that, easy-peasy. Wada himself looks pleased, a soft grin on his face as he steps forward.
“Take a pair of cuffs and connect them to yourself and your partner. Please ensure you’ve attached your cuff to the correct wrist. The left cuff will not be removed until the next killing takes place.” Monomoko’s calm explanation can’t quite deter Isono’s relief.
Almost immediately, Wada stands up straighter. “I don’t mind taking the left cuff.” Isono tries to be reassuring. “You sure? I don’t mind it either.” Wada hesitates. “Please?” He asks after a moment and Isono wants to pinch his cheeks. “Alright. Thanks for taking one for the team.”
Isono fumbles with the cuffs for a moment, but manages to secure them around her and Wada’s wrists. Her and Wada step away from the table, a little awkwardly as Isono has to adjust to Wada’s walking speed.
“Keizou Harada, please step forward.” Harada’s face pales, but he steps forward anyway, Isono can faintly hear Sawa meow at the sudden movement.
“Nakamigawa Hiroaki, please step forward.” Immediate protest. “Hell no! No way am I gonna cuffed to a- a peon like that! He also has a tiger! That he has to deal with, with ONE hand!”
“If you refuse, you will be punished.” Is the only rebuttal Momonoko seems to use.
“I… I can give you the right cuff. And we can discuss Sawa when we get back to the dorms.” Harada tries to placate. Hiroaki considers the offer. “The tiger is not allowed in my dorm. Comprende?” Harada looks like he wants to argue, but he briefly eyes Monomoko, likely trying to calculate how much more stalling she’ll allow. “Fine, ok.”
Hiroaki stomps up to the table like someone just tried to convince him to kill babies, and holds his right hand out, making Harada do all the work to put the cuffs on. Isono sends mental sympathy.
That could have been me right now.
Hiroaki storms off, dragging Harada behind him.
“Airi Chiba, please step forward.”
Chiba skips forward, looking far too pleased for whatever reason.
“Ojima Takeshi, please step forward.” Isono looks back and forth between the two.
“Will Chiba even be able to touch the ground? Or is Ojima going to have to break his back bending over to make this work?” Watari asks, very amused. “I mean, it’s a 50cm height difference…” Tsuno mumbles. Man, they’ve got the YA romance height difference.
Ojima stares down at Chiba. “You can have right, I just won’t raise my left arm too far.” Chiba nods, already reaching for a pair of cuffs. “Sounds great, thanks!” The moment the cuffs are on, Chiba sprints forward. “We’re going to have so much fun!” Ojima helplessly follows behind her.
“Kazutoshi Kamimura, please step forward.” Kazutoshi looks like someone just spat at him. “Great, fucking fantastic.”
“Shigeki Yanagi, please step forward.” Yanagi straightens up. “O-oh. Right!” As Yanagi glides forward, Isono spies Sasaki looking oddly grateful.
Yanagi hands the cuffs to Kamimura, “Please, take the right cuff, I insist.” Kamimura’s face goes a bit red. “Sure, thanks or whatever.” Huh, that went over with far less fanfare than I anticipated, considering Kamimura’s attitude.
“Mai Hayashi, please step forward.” Hayashi steps forward. “Right.” At the same time Isono is praying for whoever gets stuck with such an intimidating woman, she can hear Watari quietly chanting, “please be me, please be me, please be me”. Seems there were some differences of opinion.
“Hanano Okazaki, please step forward.” Whatever Okazaki might have said in response is drowned out by Watari’s utter wail of despair.
The two girls silently stare at each other for a moment, sizing the other up. “You can have right.” Hayashi offers curtly. “Are you sure?” Okazaki’s question sounds like she’s smiling behind her mask, almost mocking. “Yeah. Don’t abuse it.” The cuffs click in place, and Isono gets the distinctive feeling Okazaki is pleased.
“Hitomi Sasaki, please step forward.” Sasaki practically marches up to the table. “Whoever is my partner, I would like to request the right cuff ahead of time.”
“Ken Hasegawa, please step forward.” That’s an…interesting pair. Hasegawa fiddles with his hands. “Um, you can have it, Sasaki. No complaints here.” Sasaki nods already latching the cuff to her right wrist before Hasegawa even makes it to the table. “We can discuss a schedule for our breaks when we get to the dorms.” Sasaki says, and Hasegawa shoots a look to Kamimura, a silent plea to save him.
“Ran Hama, please step forward.” “I’m coming.” Hama seems disappointed, perhaps because Chiba and Harada were already taken.
“Ruiko Tamba, please step forward.” “M-me?!” Tamba looks offended. “No offense, Hama.” She quickly adds. To be fair to Tamba, the height gap was almost as big as Chiba and Ojima’s had been, it was fair to be a little concerned. “None taken. You can have right.” Hama offers his hand and Tamba nods. “Thanks.”
“Tsuno Manami, please step forward.” “Coming!” Tsuno has a skip in her step. “Me too! Since, y’know. Me and Tsuno are the only ones left.” Watari follows close behind. “You can have right.” Tsuno offers the cuff. “Nice.” With a click, the final pair was formed.
“This concludes the first student assembly. Thank you all for participating.” The first motive has begun.