Shuichi is held back by K1-B0 and Rantaro

Kirumi called out in warning, imploring Shuichi not to chase Kaede down in his underwear; the reasons to avoid doing so should have been obvious. Angie's laughter at the whole scenario didn't seem empathetic to his plight. Neither one of them made any move to grab him, however, as he vaulted down from the stage, landing awkwardly and nearly stumbling into the audience as both feet planted against the floor. He was about to push past Rantaro and K1-B0, when the two of them each grabbed an arm to halt his progress. K1-B0 often under-performed as a robot, but he was well sturdy enough to hold such a scrawny student back. Rantaro-- who Shuichi now recognized as the Ultimate Survivalist-- had surprising strength in that lanky body of his and, seemingly, a vested interest in having a chat with the Ultimate Detective. "Sorry, ladies... Maybe you should go ahead and dress yourselves back? This guy's out of control," Rantaro joked, feeling Shuichi go a bit limp at the recognition of what a fool he'd just made of himself.

"Looks like 'divine fervor' to me! In a place like this, you ought to just do whatever pops into your head, right? Atua's the one that put it there!" Angie questioned, swinging her torso back and forth while she crossed her hands cutely behind her back. The innocence of that gesture and the lewdness of her suggestion, combined with her outfit, made for a striking dichotomy.

Rantaro did his best to defuse the situation and get Angie and Kirumi to leave the stage, while K1-B0 spoke to Shuichi privately, free for just a minute from eavesdropping ears. "Shuichi, do you remember everything?" K1-B0 questioned in a quick whisper.

"Yeah... All of it," Shuichi nodded.

"Oh, thank goodness... Maki and Himiko were ducking me yesterday for some reason. But you all really do remember everything, up through the point where I destroyed the school, right?"

"Even past that," Shuichi explained, feeling stressed and out of breath. Going from that pulse-pounding strip dance, to jumping off the stage, to now being reminded of the ending phase of the killing game-- all while still juggling the need to collect the rest of his Ero Points for the day and hide the nature of the new game-- was exhausting. "We all thought you were dead."

"And I'm certain I was. I thought somebody must have recovered my scraps and put me back together, but... how'd they do that with all of the others that died?"

"I'm still trying to figure it all out. At least it doesn't seem that there's a killing game going on this time around--" Shuichi bluffed, but was surprised when K1-B0 put on an angry expression and gestured around himself at the strip club. "K-K1-B0, what is it?"

"No killing game!? Look around you! Monokuma's face is on the ceiling and every wall around us! How could you possibly assume there's no killing game going on?!" K1-B0 argued; Shuichi couldn't blame him for being offended by the suggestion, but he wished he'd have kept his voice down. "Not to mention... other weird things have already started happening."

Rantaro approached, no longer wearing his easy smile, but instead a serious frown. "So there was a killing game?" he questioned, raising one eyebrow and holding his fashionably ringed hands in his pockets. "When I heard the robot discussing it earlier, with everyone doubting him, I figured Monokuma was just trying to start people killing each other with one of his 'motivation' schemes. You know-- make everyone spring and become the first killer. However, if what I just heard is true, there's actually a couple of you that survived the last game and you're here corroborating that crazy story of his." Now he did smile, although it wasn't exactly a pleasant one; it was the slightly crazed expression of a person who's realized he survived a killing game, came back for another, died, and was somehow now back in a new one. To him, it must seem like he was destined to re-loop inside this hell forever. "Ha ha... Wow! I can't believe it. After all that, I got killed by a shot-put ball in the very first ****? I probably didn't look very cool."

"Your **** and the messages you left behind were crucial to cornering the killer," Shuichi encouraged him, feeling slightly odd about giving him a pep-talk; could he say anything that'd take the edge off of the experience of dying? "We can't thank you enough for that."

"That's not even the worst part. K1-B0 said it was all a farce-- a game, one we willingly signed up for, and that every memory I've ever had was a lie, a character implanted into my head by some world entertainment organization."

Shuichi clenched his teeth and turned his eyes towards K1-B0. He really wished his friend could have waited for a team meeting before divulging that much information, but the robot had no way of knowing how sensitive it was, in hindsight. "We never actually confirmed that. If we'd just been able to step outside... The truth was waiting for us out there, I'm sure of it. Maybe we did leave that place and just had our memories erased a second time. It's impossible to say, because we only remember now up to the point of those first steps... then it fades, like we fell asleep standing up and woke up back here."

"One thing's for sure-- we're still in somebody's game," Rantaro nodded, crossing his arms with a thoughtful frown. "I take it your group is all still investigating? For now, shouldn't we do something about the killers? I'm not saying kill them... But people like Tsumugi and even Korekiyo wandering around by themselves is incredibly dangerous, based on that crazy story K1-B0 told. I'm disregarding people like Miu, who can be pushed into killing if the situation is right. As for those dyed-in-the-wool **** junkies, I'd imagine the only reason they haven't already killed is because K1-B0 named them as past-life killers; they'd be ganged up on for sure, if a body turned up. The old rules made killing multiple people in one round inconvenient or impossible, if I'm remembering right. We're really pretty lucky that bear made so many rules."

"Not that there are any rules this time. Monokuma hasn't appeared to anyone since, despite his face being all over everything, right?" K1-B0 asked, raising one finger. The two both nodded-- Shuichi had to hide his nervousness and appear as calm as possible. "My theory is we're dealing with a copy-cat who, despite great access to resources, does not have the same resources as the original mastermind. For now, all we can do is search, try to keep an eye on the others, and wait for somebody to say something. I should tell you a little more about my current condition... I had Miu do a systems check-up on me. She didn't find any weapons systems, which means I'm not capable of ending the game like last time. For another thing, my antennae seems to be receiving messages again."

"From who?" Shuichi questioned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. This could be a big break-through. If the same "voice" was in K1-B0's head as last time, it could point towards the existence of the same viewing party that craved Danganronpa games, or whatever method Tsumugi had managed to fake that.

"... They uh... Hm," K1-B0 murmured, seeming to heat up suddenly. "Actually, they keep telling me to do things out of character. Mostly things with the girls. You know... things like what you just did with Kirumi. I'm doing my best to ignore them, but if I wasn't already conscious of that factor from our last game, I'd probably find it impossible to ignore them, believing them to be my own inner voice... I actually thought of having Miu remove the antennae, but I figured it might be best to listen for now. Were you also receiving some kind of instructions, Shuichi?"

Shuichi slowly shook his head, while feeling one eye twitching slightly at the newfound stress of this information. Somebody was watching K1-B0 and trying to manipulate him in the same way Monokuma and the Monokubs were him, though not by appearing in front of him... Unless K1-B0 was also withholding information. This was the first time such a thing occurred to him. What if there were others, playing this erotic game with the same rule, that they aren't allowed to reveal it to people? Keeping track of the possibilities was giving him a huge headache. "For now, let's just try to act normal. Himiko, Maki, K1-B0, Rantaro, and myself are those who we've confirmed believe in the killing game-- we can assume Tsumugi probably believes it too. The others probably think K1-B0's crazy, unfortunately, but I don't think anyone's going to kill without some idea that doing so carries the benefit of freeing them from captivity. We should all wait for some kind of instructions to appear, while investigating the school daily. This strip club appeared without any killing, after all. Maybe other structures will follow?" Shuichi suggested; to his relief, the others nodded along with him.

The Ultimate Detective thought he was doing a pretty good job of keeping the peace, without revealing too much of his own mission... though, looking down at his state of dress made him wonder how in control of the situation he really was.

As soon as Shuichi had collected his things to go dress himself, finding himself alone now in the bathrooms rather than the dressing room Angie and Kirumi had opted to use, two of the Monokubs appeared to either side of him in puffs of smoke. "You guys... Can't you ever wait until I'm dressed?" Shuichi grumbled, noting that the Monokubs seemed to have a terrible sense of timing. Kirumi Tojo's lapdance was still lingering in his mind, meaning that, in addition to being undressed, he was still nursing a lingering semi-hard erection.

This time, the odd pair of Monodam and Monotaro greeted him, the former standing ramrod straight and the latter nodding with his arms crossed. "Shuichi, there's no need to be modest! We all saw what a man you were in that last encounter! Real men like us can walk around with our wieners hanging out and nobody says a thing! That's the privilege of manliness-!" the half-red bear began, still talking as though the two of them were co-conspirators in this erotic game. Suddenly, to their surprise, Monophanie appeared in a third puff of smoke. "Sis! What are you doing here? This is the men's bathroom!" Despite the words he'd just spoken, the bear crossed both paws over its groin, as though there was anything there to hide.

"You guys were seeing Shuichi in his underwear without me?! I need to be involved in all Shuichi fanservice scenes!" Monophanie pouted, wiggling her oval-shaped body back and forth in a squirming motion. "Oh, but the real reason I'm here is because he just cleared my mission."

"Eeeeeh?! It counts if I compliment his masculinity?!" Monotaro gasped, moving his paws from his groin to cover his mouth. "I guess those loopholes like Monokid used work both ways! Rest in peace, little brother... Hey, come to think of it, besides that blockhead, the only one who's not here is Monosuke. Ha... Ha ha ha! Oh, that's funny! He came to you first to buddy up to you and his is the only Monokub mission you haven't completed yet! He's gonna be pissed! Then again, he's always pissed."

"Shuichi, your pad is powered up now with all kinds of strong Triggers. Despite that sexy dance you just received, you've been holding back, haven't you? No need to be shy! With all of these new rewards, you've got plenty of ways to collect the last 20 Ero Points for today!" Monphanie giggled, grabbing Shuichi's pants forcefully out of his hands, then digging through the pockets for the Monopad. She handed it back over with a cheerful smile, while holding onto his slacks herself.

Notifications

Level 1 Anytime Shake It, Baby: Activate by snapping your fingers by the ear of a target. Assigned to the first target its used upon. The target will be **** to do a sexy dance. The target will never be aware of this Trigger's use, but others around will notice it. Being informed of this Trigger's use will cause them to generate an excuse, though that excuse may still be doubted. Repeated use of this Trigger will allow you to assign it to more people. Levels up quickly.

Passive Desire Multiplier: Always active on all targets. Amplifies increases in romantic longing of others towards the user at a fast pace. This trigger does not level up.

Level 1 Anytime Take That (Off): Activate by saying "take that" and affects the closest target in earshot. Assigned to the first target its used on. The target will take off an article of clothing, decided by a dulled version of their own logic. Being informed of this Trigger's use will cause them to generate an excuse, though that excuse may still be doubted. Repeated use of this Trigger will allow you to assign it to more people. Levels up quickly and also evolves into a new Trigger at a certain level.

"Wait... I can't turn off the Desire Multiplier?" Shuichi questioned, pressing his hand over his mouth with a thoughtful frown. Having people be more amiable towards him would be a good thing in general, but... the "romantic longing" would be a problem. With this, he'd end up manipulating his friends without trying to. Not only that, but also, schisms could develop if people became possessive and ended up in rivalries for his affection.

"As our dad would say: upupu! It's a double-edged sword!" Monophanie chuckled, placing her hands on her hips. "You're going to get shipped with somebody, whether you like it or not!"

Shuichi clicked his teeth as he considered the others. Take That (Off) seemed like a pretty standard one, as far as these Triggers went; it was the kind of Trigger that'd be hard to use for anything but perverted purposes. Shake It, Baby seemed a little juvenile at first, but as he contemplated further, he realized it had some great potential: it seemed like it could theoretically tie up a person's whole body for an extended period of time. If someone did attack him, this would provide a reliable way to fend them off while he escaped. He could even theoretically use it to protect other people. "Alright, I need to get dressed... It'd be nice to be alone for a while."

The bears quipped a while longer than Shuichi would like before disappearing, leaving just Monodam waiting there, still silent. Finally, he spoke up. "THIS-GAME-IS-ABOUT-SELF-PRESERVATION," the half-green bear spoke up in his slow, mechanical way.

"Yeah-" Shuichi answered quickly, but was interrupted again.

"NOT-FOR-YOU. FOR-ME. TOMORROW... I-WILL-INITIATE-MY-PLAN-TO-TAKE-CONTROL-OF-THE-EROTIC-GAME."

Shuichi raised one eyebrow. It usually didn't pay to give much attention to the antics of the Monokubs, but this time, it sounded important. "Why not today?"

"IT-WILL-BE-EASIER-WITH-MONOSUKE-DEAD. BYE-KUMA." With that, the green bear disappeared as the others had moments ago. Shuichi was left alone with his thoughts.

... The boy turned his head uneasily, suddenly finding himself looking at a series of glory-holes carved out in the bathroom wall, peering into the women's restroom. There were also holes in each of the guy's stalls for extra measure. This place was really decked out for action, but he couldn't think of any place where he'd be less likely to want to stick his dick through a hole to be serviced by an anonymous person than in a Monokuma themed strip club. Shuichi chased that thought out of his mind, then refocused himself on the task ahead. He'd been so busy he'd forgotten to eat breakfast or lunch, so he felt like the cafeteria would probably be his next stop. He still had the whole afternoon to win the last 20 points and while Monosuke's mission may be daunting, it shouldn't be impossible, especially with new Triggers waiting to be assigned.