What's next?

Shuichi visits Miu at the Mono-Max

As if worried his captive target might slip out, Shuichi made a quick exit from the academy and practically ran back out to the courtyard, praying he wouldn't run into anything that would inhibit his next objective. One way or another, he had to make sure that Miu wouldn't talk about their encounter to anyone, whether that meant striking some kind of deal, conditioning her using the prison, or even just keeping her locked in there for the rest of the game. He didn't relish that last thought. "This game has to have some kind of end point, right? Even if the mastermind hasn't come up with one, it's my responsibility to put an end to it..." he reminded himself.

The young man nearly screamed when, on his way out the front door, he ran straight into Maki, shoving into her from the front in a way that didn't play well with his now persistent Vitality-boosted boner. Luckily, her face looked more frustrated than flustered, so he assumed she hadn't realized he'd pushed it against her pleated school-girl skirt. "Shuichi! I've been looking all over for you. I can't find K1-B0 either... You two are worrying me sick," she growled, sounding a little like the Ultimate Caretaker for once. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

In some ways, Shuichi had been seeing ghosts ever since he woke up in the new academy. Meeting Maki here, a thought crossed his mind that he'd rather have stayed out: "She's one of the few girls I haven't put any triggers on yet." The only ones left were her, Kaede, and Angie, although Angie's mind was being constantly warped by that strip club she'd made her base of operations. He didn't want to get to the point where he had no one left to talk to who wasn't being altered into a brainwashed state of some kind. He wanted to avoid doing anything to her.

"But then, Monokuma already did. Her brain's scrambled in a way that makes her unable to uncover any real clues about the game at play," he reminded himself. "Sorry, but I don't have time to talk. K1-B0 is trapped inside Miu's laboratory, but she's not in there. Go and help him; I'm going to search for her!" he insisted, although he hated to send her in with the immodest state the robot had been left in.

The girl nodded; she seemed more dutiful than suspicious. Perhaps it would be better to say she was incapable of being suspicious of him to the degree she ought to be. That would put her too close to the root of the mystery at hand and the mastermind's influence wouldn't allow it. "Be careful," she advised him, as she disappeared into the school's hallways with the twin tails of her hair fluttering behind her.

Out in the courtyard, the mourning of Monodam's robot seemed to have ceased. The idea had been so unrealistic that it had never really been a shot for escape, but nonetheless, Shuichi remembered that there were at least a few people who were probably pretty demotivated after seeing their hard work ruined. For now, he was at least pleased that no one else was stopping him from reaching the prison.

The mere act of slipping in through the secret entrance of the Mono-Max Security Prison made Shuichi feel guilt at his co-conspirator relationship with the mastermind, but what he found inside emphasized the connection much more strongly. A black warden's cap hanging on a hook near an abandoned metal detector station up front offered him an option: would he meet his captive as himself, or as an unidentifiable, disguised figure? "Wait... Does it even matter? She must realize that I'm the one that caused her to be kidnapped, based on what she saw," he mumbled to himself. Regardless, it seemed better to have the option than in case he needed it, so he placed his own cap inside the breast of his coat and replaced it on his head with the warden's.

Past the metal detector room, which seemed to serve as little more than a place to access the cap, Shuichi discovered the hall of cells with sleeping cots that he'd been notified he'd run into. Supposedly, sleeping here was safe... sleeping with someone, even, away from everyone's eyes. With the ability to remain hidden here and choose a person to stay here as a captive every day, he could theoretically keep them locked here forever if he had food to keep them both sustained. The thought terrified him. He'd been given too much power with the only limiter being his own hesitance to use it.

The next room was labeled "Captive Quarters," despite the previous one ostensibly having jail cells. If the last room was vaguely ominous, this one was directly terrifying, as the poorly lit room was filled with nothing other than a single table, one chair on his side of said table, a key on the arm, and a figure standing at the other side of the table. The figure was strapped to a standing gurney like something from a mental hospital in an outdated film, with their wrists and ankles stuck in manicals. The prisoner was, of course, Miu, who'd been brought here earlier. She was as naked as she'd been when she was taken. Her body was, thankfully, unblemished, indicating she hadn't been hurt on her way over.

Shuichi averted his eyes almost immediately, but he still managed to understand something: she was either asleep or ****, because otherwise, she would definitely have snapped at him and struggled against captivity, whether she recognized him as himself or not. For now, his thoughts were occupied by another doorway in the back, labeled storage. After stepping inside, he gulped nervously, feeling as though he was back inside the school's exhibit of eerie occult items that Korekiyo, the Ultimate Anthropologist, loved so much. All around the room were various devices that looked like they could be used for prisoner play, such as blindfolds, gags, collars, whips, and the like. Some of them looked way too violent to possibly utilize while others looked way too humiliating for either him or his target. He wrote this room out of his agenda. "Why would I use any of this?" he grumbled, lowering his eyebrows as though his words were intended to scold the pervy mastermind.

Just then he remembered: there was some added conditioning effect inside the jail. The text had mentioned "rehabilitation." "I get it now... these are weapons that the mastermind wants me to use to influence Miu." Shuichi wanted to tell himself that he didn't need it, but could he honestly picture getting through to Miu with logic and reason? That sort of thing worked in the court room when he had facts, evidence, and-- most importantly-- innocence on this side. In this instance, it was more like he needed to coerce Miu into staying quiet in a bad situation. He picked up a few of the most innocent rehabilitation devices he could think to use, leaving behind oddities like a triangle-pointed rocking horse and a line of several terrifying syringes, then returned to face the prisoner.

As soon as he stepped into the room, a voice called out sharply from the other side. The gurney was rattling as Miu barked orders at him from where she'd been chained in. "You fuckin' creep! Are you the boss here? Let me out of this thing!" she demanded, while dangerously rocking back and forth on the standing gurney; if she wasn't careful, it seemed like there was a danger of tipping it over.

Shuichi approached quickly, watching in real time as her expression changed from pissed and angry to cowering and meek. Her bare chest rose and fell rapidly as her eyes remained locked upon her captor. He realized she may have seen the rehabilitation tools in his hands. "Miu Iruma... I'll cut straight to the point. I need you to return to school life and drop your investigation into Shuichi Saihara. That includes the encounter with him earlier today. Harassing the young man any further won't be tolerated," he insisted, sounding a bit ridiculous even to himself. The warden hat didn't include any kind of voice changer, so he found himself stumbling over the threatening sounding words in his own speech.

"I have a mind like a trap," she boasted, seeming to regain some of her earlier bravado as she adopted a challenging grin. "You're asking a genius to empty out her brain, but that's precisely what makes me a genius: I can't stop thinkin' even if I want to! That little rat's more suspicious than anybody at the school right now! You're on his side, I guess?" she questioned, still slightly red-faced even as she went on the offensive. "Whoever the fuck you are, I'm gonna fry your ass along with his!"

"I thought you might say something like that, so I've come prepared." Shuichi set several items down in sequence: a ball-gag, a video camera, and a long, half-black, half white motorized dildo. As her eyes widened, he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out one more item.

"Wait, not that... Y-You can't be serious!" Miu muttered back weakly, focusing on the item in his hands instead of those on the table. "Let's talk about this... I'm a genius inventor! Look, I won't just forget about him, I-I'll help you! I'll be your accomplice! He's working for you, right? Let me make stuff that'll help you out and you can have the whole academy in your pocket!" she insisted, grinning broadly in a feint offer of comradery.

The frown on his face told her that he didn't like her choice of words. "I don't want your help and I don't want the people of the academy. All I want is for you to keep out of my business," he grumbled. There could be benefits to having her as his gofer, but he felt building a secret villainous alliance was a step in a bad direction. "There's also the matter of K1-B0. You have to promise me you're going to stop trying to control him."

"Aw, seriously? This is just getting lamer and lamer," Miu complained, lowering her eyebrows. "You really don't want my help? Fuck off! I'm starting to think you don't have the balls to do anything to me anyway." Her grin returned, cocky despite her circumstances. Was she just trying to goad him into doing something? Her hot and cold routine made it seem as though she couldn't make up her mind whether she wanted to be tortured or not...

Just as he was having a hard time trying to decide how to proceed, Shuichi got a buzz from his Monopad:

Mission cleared! Gained 20 Ero Points.

Successful use of Take That! (Off)! Gained 10 Ero Points.

Total points: 60

Passive Nudist Colony: Always active on self. Others will not regard your state of undress as suspicious or noteworthy unless you intentionally draw attention to it. Relying on this trigger repeatedly may result in its evolution.

There was some good news: he'd been in the room with Miu for five minutes, thus unlocking a new trigger. This sounded like one he could use relatively harmlessly to avoid suspicions in the future. Altogether, he'd made 60 points so far. The downside: he now had to find some way to get 40 points more before the end of the day, with only terrible missions left to choose from. He didn't even have anything left to assign Miu with, since wardrobe change couldn't be used until the next day.

He'd have to think about it as he resolved his main problem: what to do to rehabilitate Miu. "I didn't want to do this, but you're forcing my hand. I'm going to rewire your brain, Miu, and when we're finished, you're not going to bother K1-B0 or Shuichi any longer," he explained, as if stating the words out loud would make his technique more likely to work.

"Hiiiiieee! It's not my fault your requests are all so shitty! Don't use that thing on me! No, pfft.... no, no noooohahahaheeeheehehe!" The Ultimate Inventor's composure fell as Shuichi began to run a feathered, pink, handheld tickling brush up from her hip to underneath her armpit, causing her to squirm inside the gurney. "Oooohohoho nooo, I'm so fucking ticklish! Please ehehehehehahahaaa!" The girl's gray blue eyes screwed up into crescents and a string of drool escaped her lips as Shuichi gently maneuvered the implement around her exposed flesh, creating an utterly indecent scene.

Shuichi gulped; when she wasn't watching him, it was hard for him to keep his eyes off of her perky breasts and the increasingly glistening triangle of moisture between her legs. "Are you ready to agree to my terms? Drop the investigation and don't bother Shuichi or K1-B0 again!"

"F-F-Fuck yoooou hehehahahahaha!"

With a troubled frown, Shuichi moved on to what he was sure was the next step. Hesitantly, he flicked the feather-duster-like implement across the peaked tips of her pink nipples.

"U-Uwooooh, you fucking p-p-perv!" she babbled, even as her eyes rolled upward in an exaggerated expression of pleasure.

Sensing he'd hit a weak point, Shuichi increased his attack there, trying to ignore a throbbing in his trousers that he wanted to attribute solely to the virility vitamin he'd been given. As he watched, the girl's breasts bounced up and down from a mixture of laughter and squirming, while her expression alternated between a cackling grin and a disbelieving frown. When she seemed to finally grow used to his technique, he'd vary it and attack elsewhere, then ultimately return to the tips of the breasts. He'd even occasionally shameless flick the feathers between her legs, causing her to squeal. The tickle **** seemed to go on and on, with her collapsing further into madness while yelling increasingly unintelligent obscenities' at him, until finally, a moan escaped through the laughter and her body shuddered. "Do you give up?!" he asked her again, slamming one hand on the table.

"Yeees, yes, I fuckin' give up! Yoooo-hoo-hoo gotta stop, I'm gonna p-p-piss myself! I'll forget about that twerp and the r-ohohoho-bot! I'm gonna piiiiss!"

Shuichi wondered if she hadn't already, given how she was dripping down below. They'd been at this for far longer than he intended to be and time had gotten away from him... Did he even remember what time it was any more? Just as that disturbing thought played in his mind, he felt another buzz from his monopad. Stupidly, he felt joy at the development. After all, he'd just accomplished his goal of manipulating Miu into dropping her pursuit; why shouldn't he expect to be rewarded?

Judgment call!

Overuse of Level 1 Take That (Off)! Mr. Monokuma reviewed the evidence and found that you used this trigger way too many times in succession! Having a little too much fun, aren't you? That's no excuse for forgetting the rules, you degenerate!

-10 points

Your point total is now 0.

Shuichi's hands trembled as he dropped the tickle **** wand and stared helplessly into the Monopad screen. The small room seemed to spin around him; he felt his mind breaking just like Miu's, but without any of the pleasure. His earlier plan to defeat Miu had lost every bit of the points total he'd accumulated so far, due to the messed up rules that Monokuma had decided to enforce. He didn't have any more Monokid missions that were possible to complete. What was he supposed to do at this point?! Was it even possible to collect enough 10 point increments to get up to 100 before the end of the day now? The Monokuma missions were designed to be impossible.

With his eyes spiraling in despair, he looked across the table at Miu, who wore a similar expression. Both of the two were sunken completely in despair, although the quivering smile on the girl's lips made her state of mind seem preferable to his.

"I-I won't go after Shuichi... I'll leave K1-B0 alone... I'll do whatever you say..." she repeated, although the way her smiling eyes watched him seemed to expect something more.

Feeling hopeless, Shuichi collapsed into the chair across from her and watched her with a dead-eyed frown. The realization of what he'd done to her hitting him at the same time as the knowledge that he had no chance to save the students from the killing game was too much. "Miu... I could really use a genius right now to help me come up with a way out of this."

Predictably, she didn't seem to understand what he was asking for and watched on with a stupid smile of pleasure. "Use me! I'm a genius, he he he. I offered, remember, shithead!? Use me use me use meeee~" she giggled in an addled refrain.

Shuichi clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, leaning forward with his face in his hands as he racked his brain for some way to fix the situation. "I can't...!"

His weakness seemed to restore some of her old demeanor, as a challenging grin rose to her face. Her middle fingers extended on either hand as she flicked her wrists to point the gesture upward. "I'm the fucking genius and I'm telling you to use me! Fuckwits like yourself have to rely on geniuses like me! So go ahead and fucking use me, you no-balls, 5-foot-nothing, tickle fetish, stupid hat dumbass!" she ranted, rocking back and forth in her gurney.

Shuichi rose to his feet and clenched his fists...

((Gonna do this at the bottom of every chapter now! Lot to keep up with.))

Assigned Triggers:

Miu Iruma- Level 1 Anytime Take That! (Off)

Tsumugi Shirogane- Level 1 Anytime Dirty Talk, Level 1 Anytime Grope Forgiveness

Kirumi Tojo- Level 1 Anytime Totally Soaked

Tenko Chabashira- Level 1 Anytime Shake it, Baby

Maki Harukawa- Total Game Ignorance

Himiko Yumeno- Total Game Ignorance, Level 1 Anytime Boner Emergency!

K1-B0- Total Game Ignorance

Available to Use/Assign:

Level 2 Daily Wardrobe Change