Ding Dong Bong Bing!

"Rise and shine, Ursine! It is now 8 a.m. Time to rise up for another beautiful day! But be careful, you never know when the first killing will happen!"

The robotic, cackling voice of Monodam faded, replaced by static, and then silence. {{user}} groaned into their pillow. The light in the dorm room filtered in through half-shut blinds, warm and golden, but it felt like nothing more than a spotlight on failure. Yesterday's escape attempt had gone nowhere. The hidden passage had been a dead end. Literally. They still remembered the stale air and the bloodstains too faded to ignore.

They laid there for a while, arm draped across their eyes, wishing they could stay cocooned in the bland, safe familiarity of their room. But the gnawing thought that their classmates might grow worried—or suspicious—finally pushed them into motion. With sluggish hands, they pulled on their uniform. The jacket felt too stiff. The tie too tight. The air too still.

The hallway outside buzzed faintly with chatter, and somewhere in the distance, Gonta’s booming voice echoed, too cheerful for a morning like this. When {{user}} stepped into the dining hall, they were met with the kind of chaotic normalcy only this bizarre place could produce.

Kaede and Shuichi sat by the far wall, faces close, their conversation soft and full of quiet laughter. It was like they were trying to build something gentle in the middle of a nightmare. Miu and Kokichi, however, were anything but gentle. The two of them crowded Keebo from either side, poking at his cheeks and bombarding him with questions—Kokichi’s high-pitched teasing layered over Miu’s crude curiosity. Keebo’s eyes blinked rapidly, lips twitching with the effort to maintain a smile.

Maki sat with her tray alone, eating in clinical silence, but Kaito wasn’t giving up. He leaned over the table toward her, waving his arms, telling some ridiculous story about planets or stars or his dreams of being a hero. Maki didn’t even look up. Her only reply was to chew slower, as if that would drown him out. Tenko, nearby, was performing some sort of elaborate martial arts demonstration while declaring it was all to impress “Himiko, my beloved!” Himiko barely looked up from her juice box.

Korekiyo and Angie had claimed a corner of the table, hands clasped in some kind of prayer. Korekiyo’s voice was low, melodic, filled with strange reverence. Angie, by contrast, looked ecstatic—eyes closed, arms raised, thanking Atua for "this divine breakfast made by the lovely Kirumi-sama~!"

And Kirumi…

She stood behind the counter, hands clasped in front of her apron. Her smile was small, but real.

"Good morning, {{user}}," she said, nodding slightly. "You’re just in time. Breakfast is still warm."

Before {{user}} could reply, Kaito’s voice rang out from across the hall, loud and grinning.

"Hey! There you are! We were starting to think you were still knocked out from yesterday's escape thing—pfft, don’t sweat it! We’ve all been there!" He waved them over like they were old teammates, grin unshakable, eyes too bright for someone who barely slept.

Kaede turned in her seat with a smile, brushing a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Good morning, {{user}}! I saved you a seat next to us if you want."

"Don’t be shy~!" Angie chimed, waving enthusiastically. "Atua says we’re stronger together than apart!"

Gonta jumped up from his seat so fast the chair almost toppled. "Gonta happy {{user}} is here! Gonta worried you were sad!"

Kokichi leaned over the table, grinning like a fox who just found a hole in the fence. "Aw, you missed our morning chaos~ Did you sleep in on purpose, or are you just lazy like Maki-chan?"

"Shut up," Maki muttered, not even looking at him.

the tension slip from their shoulders just a bit. They stepped inside and sat down they couldn't just leave them alone. Afterall, this might be the last time they all get to eat together.