New Morning, New World

The next morning, Hajime went up to the restaurant to see everyone casually lounging around. There was no hint of panic or anxiety on their faces. Well, kudos to them for staying calm. The last thing they needed was chaos.

"Uhh..." Hajime said, looking around. Everyone seemed the same as they were the day before. "Um... Teruteru, did you make this food?"

The chef approached him. "Nah. My food doesn't taste nearly as... shitty as this."

Wow. Talk about pride.

Hajime awkwardly grabbed a plate of food and sat down next to Chiaki as Byakuya began to stand up and speak.

"Everyone," Byakuya said. "Has anyone figured out a clue as to why we're here?"

"Didn't the rabbit thing say 'To love and have fun' or something?" Ibuki asked.

"Well, the reason doesn't matter. We need to get back." he said. "This is no better than ****!"

"Yeah, hopefully we could get off before someone dies." Hajime said. The entire restaurant went quiet and looked at him for a solid minute.

"What do you mean?" Kazuichi asked. "Dies?"

"Yeah. Remember, the killing game? Where in order to get off we have to kill someone and not get caught?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Byakuya asked.

"Are you insane?" Peko asked. "We don't need any stupid threats like that."

Wait... if no one remembered it... did that mean what Monokuma said last night was actually true?

"Have any of you seen the black and white bear?" Hajime asked. Everyone looked at him like he was dumb.

"A... panda? You saw a panda?" Peko asked. Her eyes slightly lit up with excitement (which was unusual), but no one else asked anything.

"No, not a panda." he said. "I'm talking about Monokuma."

"What?" Nagito asked. "Mono...kuma? That means bear-thing in Japanese. I'm not an expert on bears, but I'm pretty sure that's not an existing breed. You're kind of being nonsensical right now. Are you alright?"

He looked around. No one seemed to take him seriously.

"S-Sorry... I guess that was all a dream that I'm mixing up with reality..." he said. He quietly excused himself to go to the bathroom.

Hajime rushed downstairs to the lobby's bathroom, locking himself inside a stall quickly.

"Okay, okay, if this is actually happening, I have to read the rules..." he said, reading through the rules. Once he did so, he moved to the chart of the girls.

List of Triggers Round 1:

• Chiaki Nanami (Active): This gamer is so confident in her abilities that she'll accept any balanced bet that you offer. However, she doesn't take kindly to flaking.
• Sonia Nevermind (Active): Princesses are meant to be neat and tidy. Surely she'll help you out if you have any cleanliness issues.
• Hiyoko Saionji (Active): A true dancer will take any dance request. Even if it's not a real dance, she'll surely come up with something.
• Mahiru Koizumi (Active): Apologizing when you make a mistake is the first step to gaining her respect.
• Mikan Tsumiki (Passive): All nurses agree that having a good night's rest is vital to staying healthy. As such, it's her duty to be sure that you're resting, and resting well.
• Ibuki Mioda (Passive): This girl's good with her fingers, in more ways than one.
• Peko Pekoyama (Passive): Wearing extra clothes hinders her movement. The girl's gotta train, right?
• Akane Owari (Passive): She's very comfortable with her body. Maybe a little too comfortable, as she's not afraid to flaunt it.

He read it over and over again. What? What the hell were these statements? What did passive and active mean?

"Puhuhu!"

Hajime turned around to see Monokuma in the stall with him.

"I see you have some questions..." Monokuma said.

"How? I didn't even say anything!"

"Do you really think I can't read your mind? If I can do this, reading minds is the least of my problems."

Hajime sighed.

"Anyways, Passive and Active triggers. Active triggers are things that happen once you do an action or say something. If you avoid doing those things, you'll be able to avoid using the trigger. However, Passive triggers are always in play. Regardless of what you do, they'll always be active. Those are the ones to keep an eye on because you won't be able to control what happens and when. Each rotation, four girls will get Active triggers and four will get Passive triggers."

"So the trigger game is real?"

"Of course! I wouldn't drag this joke on for two days!"

Hajime sighed. "You wiped everyone else's memories of you, huh?"

"Yup! As far as they know, they're still on a normal school trip! Or, at least, whatever that rabbit told them."

"Oh, oh Usami! What happened to her?" Hajime asked.

"You don't need to worry about her. From now on, it'll just be you and your classmates on this island."

"What did you do to her?"

"I didn't delete her or anything. She's just in a cage in the class trial grounds. But that space is useless to you now, and you won't be able to access it. Just, don't concern yourself with little old rabbit girl."

"Anyways," Hajime said, changing the subject. "Just to be clear, all I need to do is survive without people getting suspicious of me?"

"Erm, yes." Monokuma said.

"In that case, I don't need to use the triggers at all!" Hajime said. "I could just go along my daily life! Any triggers I do find I'll just ignore!"

"..."

Oh no. Did he piss him off?

"Hajime... THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS UP!"

"Huh?"

"I KNEW I WAS MISSING SOMETHING! AN INCENTIVE FOR YOU TO USE THE TRIGGERS!"

Hajime facepalmed. He should've seen this coming. Why didn't he just keep his mouth shut?

"I've just added a new rule to your handbook. You should check it out."

"What have I done?" he asked, picking up the handbook.

• Hajime Hinata must turn in 100 Monocoins at the end of each three-day cycle. Failure to do so will instantly shoot all boys' suspicion meters up to 100%.
• Any excess Monocoins at the end of the three-day cycle will be put into your Bank. You cannot use coins in the Bank to contribute to the 100-Monocoin quota, but you can use them in the Shop.
• Repeated use of the same trigger in a row will give diminishing amounts of Monocoins.

"You know how to get Monocoins, right? By using triggers!" Monokuma said. "So you'll have to use these triggers if you want to survive!"

"Dammit," Hajime said. "Whatever. Fine, I'll use them."

"Puhuhu! You should also know that it's impossible to get Monocoins from passive triggers. Because those are always active, there's no real effort of getting them. So until the next three days, you'll have to take advantage of Chiaki, Sonia, Hiyoko, and Mahiru! Puhuhu! And, though this isn't stated in the rules, you shouldn't tell anyone about the use of the Trigger system. I've made it so the girls will be incapable of understanding how it works, and the boys will likely just get confused and suspicious of you."

With that, Monokuma vanished as Hajime banged his head against the toilet stall wall.

"Dammit dammit dammit!" Hajime shouted. "Why couldn't've I stayed quiet!?"

"Hajime?" a voice sounded. Oh no, was that Kazuichi?

Hajime cleared his throat. "I'm fine," he said. "I'm just not feeling well."

"I heard banging," he said.

"I tripped and hit my head against the stall," Hajime replied. "Just go, it's not a big deal."

"Alright..." Kazuichi replied, leaving the bathroom. But Hajime realized that if he needed to turn in Monocoins, he had to take advantage of at least one trigger. The issue being that he doesn't know anything about how these triggers work, yet.

But first he needed to figure out who to observe.