Authors Note: I apologize for the long delay. My co-writer quit, and there was a lot of squabbling and conflict and I thought this fic would be dead. But I care too much about it, and so I return. I'm quite rusty, so this might take some time to go back to the level of quality and work rate I used to have.

Chapter 2: Afraid of Water (Daily Life 5)

Ding dong, Bing bong.

"Gooooooooooooooooooooo-" Monokuma was cut off by an extended coughing fit. "Goo- Ack! hyyyaaaack! Oh-oh my god. That hurts so much…" He exclaimed, clearing his throat and taking a few breaths. "I think I'm dyin here…" He muttered.

"Uhm… hey. Good morning, I guess, it's 7 AM and all that and the day is looking… pretty choice. I need to avoid shouting or I'll start coughing again." Monokuma said, Saya letting a low, guttural sigh as she slowly lifted her head off the pillow. She got up and went to have a quick shower and get dressed. She wanted to get things done as quickly as possible today. She had plans for the morning, an announcement to make, and a no tolerance policy for any hijinks or tomfoolery, whoever uses those terms these days.

After her shower came another long, losing battle with that pesky upright strand of hair. "C'mon…. I shampooed and conditioned you. Go down." she complained, swatting at it. Saya threw up her hands, giving up after it was clear the accursed strand was to stay for now. She got dressed in another copy of her school uniform before heading off for Izumi's lab.

She met with Chiwa at the elevator, noticing some minor changes to Chiwa's attire. Instead of Saya's royal blue arm ribbon, she had blue painter's tape around one of her arms, with matching kanji written in white out correction tape. It stood out on Chiwa's black school dress and orange tie as quite the contrast. Her brown locks of hair were now in two low pigtails draping her shoulders, with the very same crooked upstanding strand that Saya had.

"Good morning, Chiwa… I uhh… I hope you're having a splendid day." Saya said, getting a small bow.

"Good morning, Chiwa. Apart from Monokuma's terrible morning greeting, I got a good amount of sleep." Chiwa said, adjusting Socrates in her arms. "Are you going to Igarashi's diner as well?"

"Not for long. I have plans to announce something special for the remaining students, so I want to be properly prepared." Saya said as she hit the call button on the elevator. Chiwa nodded and joined her as the elevator opened, the two heading down to the 20th floor.

The elevator trip was quick, the two stepping out and walking up to the door for Izumi's lab. Saya opened the door, seeing it empty. "Oh, hey Saya. Hey, Chiwa. What can I do for you?"

"Something to go today, Igarashi. Have you got any other guests so far?" Say asked.

"I feel like after yesterday the guys and the girls have been avoiding each other. Everyone is either getting food to go, or eating at the dining hall instead." Izumi said, checking her cabinets for something quick to make. "It's not just because of what Junichi and Touki did, is it?"

"No. Kakihara avoids everyone and Hitose avoids you. There's also a general feeling of separation between students."

"I'm not... really sure what I can do about that." Izumi said, not even looking at Saya as she cooked some bacon and eggs, readying containers for them.

"The students need a leader, and I intend on following through with that."

"Everyone's still scared of you, Saya…" Izumi pointed out.

"I already have a solution to that… and it's bureaucracy." Saya explained.

"Uhm… what's that?" Izumi asked, setting down the styrofoam box, plastic fork and a wrapped streusel cake for Chiwa.

"You'll see. I don't want to say before everyone's here. It'd be too repetitive," Saya said

"Ohhhh… great." Izumi said, clearly annoyed. Saya didn't respond to her and simply gathered their breakfast before leaving for the diner. Saya and Chiwa made it back to the elevator, Saya handing the streusel cake to Chiwa as they went down to the 18th floor.

Saya soon crossed through the elevator doorway, down the hall and into the lounge. The two ate breakfast while they waited for the other students to arrive. The first to arrive was Airi, who sat down next to Chiwa. Then came Sora, who took Saya's left. Next came Asana, who was still fired up from her morning run as she dragged along Miyuki, who was still trying to catch her breath.

Next were Yuuto and Rokuro. Yuuto sat right next to Sora while Rokuro went for the back of the couch, Saya smacked at him with her yardstick, forcing him to jump over Yuuto's head and past the couch onto the floor. Izumi came through the longue door next, keeping herself as far from Saya as possible still, though occasionally glancing to Sora. Then came Touki and Junichi, who sat themselves with Izumi, though with a slight bit of leeriness after the hot springs incident.

Rinne walked over, Junichi giving her as much space as possible as she sat next to Yuuto. Koba walked in, bridging the gap on the couch between Junichi and Rinne. Finally, Daichi walked in and took his spot as far from the others, though he was now drifting a little closer to the couch. He hung a cigarette from his mouth, lighting it up and taking a drag.

Saya sighed and glared at Daichi, knowing she would deal with him in due time. She stood up, walking in front of the TV and shutting off the console everyone was playing from. A roar of annoyed, angered groans followed.

"...Are you gonna keep doing that?" Yuuto asked, tossing the controller onto the table.

Saya simply ignored it and cleared her throat, standing stiff with her hands behind her back. But, as she opened her mouth, another voice broke the silence. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make!" came Monokuma's voice. Saya stood with her mouth open in silence as the bear jumped up in front of her, landing on the coffee table. Saya shut her mouth and glared at the mascot.

"Do you mind?" Saya asked, Monokuma turning to face Saya.

"Do YOU mind?" Monokuma asked mockingly. "I am your headmaster-"

"But this isn't a school," Chiwa noted.

"I AM YOUR HEADMASTER!" Monokuma shouted, stomping his foot on the table. "I'll eat your bunny rabbit! Ya… ya interrupting lil nincompoop!"

"You leave Socrates out of this!" Chiwa cried, holding the rabbit tighter.

"Anyone else wanna be a little smartass cuz I got something to tell all of you people!" Monokuma said, hopping a few times on the coffee table. "And it's about your next motive…"

"Wait, what? Another motive? It's only been a day!" Junichi exclaimed.

"I know, but it felt really long. I was really amped to talk about this motive!" Monokuma objected.

"Already?" Izumi asked.

"Eh, you guys win. Guess I'll reveal the motive tomorrow." Monokuma said with a defeated shrug.

"...You're joking right?" Miyuki asked.

"Ah, yeah it's fine. I'll just do it tomorrow I guess."

"This fuckin' bear… you were just gonna announce them for tomorrow, weren't you?" Daichi asked.

"I mean… yeah. Aren't I cheeky?" Monokuma said with a chuckle.

"So why not tell us now that we know there's gonna be a motive?" Rinne asked.

"Suspense! Now you all are gonna be super tense for the whole day!" Monokuma exclaimed, flailing his arms.

"...I mean, I don't feel tense." Sora said.

"Yeah, but there's an underlying tense atmosphere. You're shivering in anticipation!" Monokuma said, body shaking to simulate the shivers.

"We're really not…" Asana said, rolling her eyes.

"I mean, if anything it's kind of relieved and disappointed…" Miyuki said.

"Man, disappointed is my default emotion." Junichi said, lounging into his seat. "So you're doing a thing tomorrow… is that all you're doing today?"

"Hey! I uhh… Look I know I made a time limit and everything but every minute is not gonna be a thrill ride. Can you guys just… act tense?" Monokuma pleaded.

"Well, now that you want us to act tense, you can forget that." Yuuto said. "You want us to play along with your game, but if it gets you miffed, why would we stop being chill about it?"

"Mrhh…" Monokuma murmured, slowly shaking.

"Look man, stop trying to get us to like you. You've insulted us, kidnapped us, and forced us to kill a guy while threatening to kill all of us if we failed. It's not gonna happen, and it just feels awkward." Touki added.

"So stop acting like you're relatable. If you really were trying to be liked you'd just open the front doors and let us walk out without being murdered by your freaky robot dogs." Sora added.

"Bah! You're all just a bunch of spoil sports! I don't need you! I got cool friends!" Monokuma shouted. "They're gonna give me MILKSHAKES and teach me how to ride a SKATEBOARD, and not laugh at me when I eventually FALL OFF!" he raved before disappearing.

"Well, that was a fine distraction…" Saya said before clearing her throat. "Now then, as I was saying. After the actions of certain… unscrupulous individuals." she began, firing off a cold glare to Junichi and Touki. The two stood still and remained silent, not wanting to draw any more attention to themselves.

"Along with the unfortunate nature of our first class trial, that we as an assembled group require proper leadership and guidance. As such, I would like to formally introduce the Hope's Peak Academy Student Council!" Saya declared. A silence fell over the group, followed by murmurs. "Hold your questions after the members are announced."

Izumi held up a hand

"What did I just say!?" Saya barked out.

"Oh. Uhh.. Sorry." she muttered.

"I'm going to pick the most talented, least capricious, and most even keeled people of the group to maintain stability and morale. I will be the Council President, of course. And my Vice President will be Chiwa."

"Thank you, Saya." Chiwa said with a bow.

"You're welcome. Joining us will be the Head of Fitness, our most physically capable and determined student…" Saya said, taking a moment to let the silence hang, "Asana Nanashima."

"Hell yeah! I'm gonna make sure y'all are in the best shape!" Asana shouted, jumping from the coach and pumping her fist.

"Oh, come on!" Rokuro shouted in objection. "I'm in way better shape than Asana!"

"Hah! In your dreams, rock-biter!" Asana said with a cocky chuckle before lifting her shirt to show her abs. "You can cut a steak on my abs!"

"I'm gonna challenge your position!" Rokuro shouted, jabbing a finger in her face.

"Oh yeah!? Bring it you loser!" Asana shot back, slamming one fist into her hand.

"You can't challenge for the position, you were assigned for the position, Asana!" Saya countered. "You can't just resign if you lost!"

"WE'RE ARM WRESTLING! BEST OF A HUNDRED!" Rokuro challenged.

"IT'S ON PUNK!" Asana yelled, the two rushing out of the lounge. "MiMi! You better be the ref on this I am NOT letting him cheat!"

"I do not approve of this wager! Get back here!" Saya called after the two.

"They uh… they left already." Chiwa said.

"...Guess I'll go." Miyuki said with a defeated sigh, getting up from the couch and walking out of the lounge

"Hold it right there, Ashikawa!" Saya shouted, Miyuki stopping dead in her tracks. "After all, you will need to be here to accept your position as the Council's Record Keeper."

"Huh? Record Keeper?" Miyuki asked. "But creative writing isn't the same a-"

"It's writing, isn't it?" Saya pointed out.

"I mean, not really, but…" Miyuki said, trailing off a little.

"It involves penmanship, correct?" Saya asked.

"Well, yeah, but not-" Miyuki said before being interrupted.

"And memorizing details, correct?" Saya continued.

"Y-yeah, but.. You're gonna hit me with your ruler if I say no, aren't you?"

"Of course not," Saya said, whacking Touki as he shouted objections of double standards. "I just fail to see the problem here."

"Why not Touki? He's a journalist." Izumi offered.

"Yeah! I'm always keeping notes for stories!" Touki pointed out. Saya calmly walked over and slammed her heel into his forehead. "O-ow! My brain!" he shouted.

"Igarashi, I should not have to remind you of Minami's past behavior, correct?" Saya asked.

"No…" Izumi said. "I mean.. He did totally look at us while we were in the bathhouse yesterday."

"And was punished accordingly." Saya said with a nod.

"You slapped me so many times… How could someone do that to another human?" Touki asked, Saya grinding her heel further. "Ow-ow-ow-ow-OW!"

"I will not reward such a cretinous individual with a position of power." Saya said.

"Yeah, but he got punished, so he's learned his lesson, right?" Izumi argued.

"You'd think so, but Minami's type rarely learn from punishment. In fact, I'm beginning to suspect he is getting aroused by the idea." Saya said.

"I would if my skin didn't hurt." Touki replied. "And I mean like… all my skin at once."

"Now, may I continue without interruption?" Saya asked, not removing her foot from its placement on Touki's head. "I have two more members to announce and I would like to get it done without interruption."

"Now then, it is settled that that Miyuki Ashikawa is the Record Keeper. As for our next position, I wanted to focus on making sure that along with our physical needs that our students creative needs were also met. So, please welcome the Head of Creative Arts, Sora Hitose!"

"Huh… that's something, I guess." Sora said. "I didn't even really do anything."

"Sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something awful, Hitose." Saya said.

"...I never thought about that before, huh." Sora said with a shrug.

"And finally, our Head of Security, Airi Kudo." Saya announced.

"Cool, I didn't want the job anyway." Rinne said.

"You didn't know there was an opening for the job." Koba pointed out.

"Still wouldn't have wanted it," Rinne said with a smirk.

"Uh… why am I the Head of Security? I'm just a babysitter." Airi said, raising her hand.

"So you've claimed." Saya said. "However, given your lab and your… strange skillset.. I feel like that your title is some kind of cover story."

"And given your skills in hand-to-hand combat, you're more than capable of handling any rowdy students." Chiwa added, getting a nod from Saya.

"And that is the student council. Any questions?" Saya asked.

"Yeah, can we go now?" Yuuto asked.

"You… You can't just... " Saya stammered out, before giving a defeated sigh.

"We're not in your dumb student thingy, I kind of think we can leave if we wanted to." Yuuto pointed out. "Besides, you made your announcement, right? You don't need us for anything else, yeah?"

"Fine, leave then. You're all dismissed." Saya said, waving them off. "Airi, please take care of Kakihara's cigarette."

"Will do." Airi said, running after Daichi as he left. Saya having a blank stare as shouting began to fade into the hallway.

"Get the hell away from me! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Daichi called from down the hall.

"Well, that could have gone a lot better…" Saya said, shaking her head.

"I think it was a great presentation, Saya." Chiwa said, using Socrates' arm to pat Saya on the arm. Saya turned and gave a small smile.

"Thank you, Chiwa. So, what shall we do with the rest of the day?" she asked. "I would consider investigating, but Koba has kindly shared notes he's written on the new rooms."

"Hmm… well, we could go to the aquarium. I wanna watch the dolphins." Chiwa said.

"Certainly." Saya said. "I guess we can use this opportunity to talk. In the last four or five days I guess I'm not used to having free time again."

"We still have a time limit, but I feel like we should try and stick together and we'll make it out." Chiwa said as they began to leave the lounge. There was a small line formed at the elevator, students heading for different floors. After a few minutes, Saya and Chiwa entered the elevator alone.

The elevator soon stopped at the fifteenth floor, Saya and Chiwa stepping out and heading for the aquarium's lower floor. The two were bathed in the dark blue light of the room as the aquatic animals merely floated and swam over their heads. It looked like they were flying from how still the water was from underneath. Chiwa looked on with a wide smile on her face, walking closer to the wall to get in close to one of the dolphins.

"Hi, Mr. Dolphin!" Chiwa said in a chipper tone. She pressed Socrates' face to the plexiglass, where one dolphin swam up and bumped its snout against the glass. "Ehehehehe~"

Saya smiled and walked over to join her as the ocean life passed them by. "I'll admit I don't know the names of the other creatures that aren't dolphins. I'm not really a marine biologist." Saya said.

"You don't have to know everything about something to appreciate it existing, Saya. That's kind of the cool thing about being alive, y'know?" Chiwa said. "That's what Socrates told me."

"I've been meaning to ask you about Socrates." Saya replied. "Most people have moved on from that when they're your age. I could imagine it being fine when you're 7 and precocious but… won't people bully you once you're around people my age?"

"Well, they did, so I had to keep him at home for a long time, but they bullied me for being a kid anyway. They'll always find something to bully me about… Being smarter than them, being a kid, wearing glasses… I think it's just anything to make them feel less insecure." Chiwa admitted, hugging Socrates with one arm.

"So, why bring him along? Why not just keep him at home?" Saya asked. :If you don't mind telling me, of course."

"I need him." Chiwa said rather bluntly.

"...Need him?" Saya wondered, bending down to meet Chiwa's eyes.

"Everyone says I'm smart… My parents tell me I'm smart. They gloat to other people how smart I am. But… I don't feel smart." Chiwa said, looking at the floor. "I feel like… a big idiot who tricked everyone into thinking she's smart. But Socrates is actually smart." Chiwa explained. "I didn't want to skip 4 or 5 grades like everyone told me I should… I felt like people would find out I'm stupid."

"Chiwa, you're not stupid. You're a child prodigy, after all." Saya said, trying to be reassuring.

"The government gave me an IQ test to get into MENSA, and told me my IQ was 225 but… I wake up every morning and I just ask myself 'what am I even good at?' I'm not a scientist… or a biologist, or a doctor… It just feels like a number for my parents to feel good about themselves." Chiwa protested. "I consult Socrates on my tests and he knows all the right answers… But that's all I'm actually doing." Chiwa said, lifting the toy rabbit up to eye level. "And Socrates told me all tests are is just remembering things people have told you before."

"Do you ever think you could do a test by yourself if you have to?" Saya asked, curious. Chiwa gazed at a small fish floating by in the water by itself as she looked lost in thought.

"I… I don't know." Chiwa said, taking a soft sigh of discomfort.

Saya decided to pry a little further. "Why don't you know?"

Chiawa softly hugged her plush rabbit to her chest and looked back at her bespectacled elder. "Well.. I guess it's because mom and dad are ashamed of me still having Socrates as a friend." Chiwa explained. "They think it makes me look stupid or like I have some kind of mental hitch."

"But they want you to be mature and succeed, right?" Saya asked.

"Sometimes a little too much… It feels like my dad is pushing his failed goals onto me so I could complete them for him by proxy. He went into college at a young age and he had to leave because he was bullied…"

Saya took a seat at a nearby bench, as the rippling water cast a reflection on the two of them. Chiwa followed, taking a seat onto the chair as she sighed.

"You know… my father pushed a lot of his failed ambitions on me and my brother, too." Saya said, crossing her legs over one another. "My father tried to be a politician like another member of my family was… but he was lecherous and lacked the emotional fortitude of public office." Saya explained, adjusting her glasses. "He tried to make Shiro like him, become a successful politician in his place, despite my brother hating his guts for shaming our family name." Saya explained, getting a quiet nod in response.

"What did your father want you to be?" Chiwa asked.

"I'm… not sure. He never set any of those expectations for me, he just… he hated to deal with me, sometimes. I eventually decided to choose my own fate, and I became a class president through unwavering morals." Saya continued, leaning back on the bench as Chiwa gazed at the floor, feet kicking from being slightly too short to reach the ground. "He ruined my mother's life, I think I reminded him of her."

"This conversation is making me depressed…" Chiwa said with a soft sigh.

"Since this is a calm day… let's not get bustled too much with activities. Let's just take a break and enjoy the environment, alright?" Saya asked, taking on a kinder tone as Chiwa gave a quiet nod.

The two would continue spending time together in the aquarium to observe various animals and cheer Chiwa up as she got to look at species she'd never seen before. Eventually passing enough time so that when the two left, it was right after lunch.