Stuck on Repeat

Kaede seemed to have taken Rantaro and Tsumugi with her to who knows where so now Shuichi was alone. You would think he would at least have Maki, but she seems to be trying her best to interact with Kaito. It was painfully obvious to Shuichi how badly her acting skills were, but Kaito didn't seem to notice.

Shuichi decided to make his way back to his dorm. No point exploring. Already done that. No point interacting. Already done that. Time to just go stare at the wall a think about all the regrets done in life. That was his plan until someone decided to surprise him. That someone being Kokichi. Should have expected this.

"Well hello Mr Detective!"

"Hello Ouma.." 

"Why such a mood? Down in the dumps already? Aw... Cmon now! A little excitement never hurt anybody!" Kokichi said with his usual grin on his face.

"I've been thinking..." 

Oh no.

"This game must be orchestrated by someone ya know? It can't be just a stupid bear. Thats ridiculous! And I am only entrusting this information to you Mr Detective! I am putting all my faith in you detective abilities!" Kokichi said.

Shuichi couldn't decide if it was him trying to be helpful or planting false ideas in his head. Either way, he was right, no matter the intention.

"Is that all Ouma?" Shuichi asked tiredly.

"Yes and no. Came here just to say that but now I have better ideas!" Kokichi cheered.

"Nice. Well, I am going to head to my dorm now-"

"Nope you aren't! You in my next plan now. Too late to back out!" Kokichi then dragged Shuichi away from the dorms building and off to who knows where.

They ended up at the arcade. Ok now somethings defiantly wrong. Things aren't playing out exactly as they did beforehand. Or was this the intention? Am I overthinking?

How did Kokichi even know of this place so early? This wasn't supposed to be seen till about a few days in. The arcade looked just as it did after the second trial. Deserted and never to be touched again. Kokichi invited him to play air hockey. In truth, Shuichi had never played air hockey before. He had never even been to an arcade before the game. He had always been so caught up in detective work and school that he never made time for anything else. His friends loved to call him a workaholic.

Kokichi absolutely decimated the poor boy. Kokichi even hit the puck at Shuichi's hand somehow, making Shuichi have to retract his hand giving Kokichi an opening to score. Apparently, Kokichi and his gang used to break into arcades after hours to play games.

Does he remember? No, his personality didn't seem as mischievous or have as malicious intent as it did at the end of the last game. It had seemed to sort of... Reset? Had there perhaps been this sort of error with everyone?

They continued to play games for the rest of the night. Certainly, past the night-time announcement. Shuichi became tired a while ago but felt it was rude to leave Kokichi now, so he stayed. Shuichi had completely come to terms with the fact that he was never going to win against Kokichi. And Kokichi had also seemed to have understood that. Kokichi then offered to teach him cards but then abruptly said he had to leave and went off without an explanation. Had Shuichi done something wrong? It was impossible to tell. It was Kokichi after all. 

Then Shuichi realised that he was alone and way past the night-time announcement. If some events have already changed the deaths might to change. He can't let his guard down. HE made his way back to the dorms at a quick walking pace. He didn't want to run and then alarm someone. Everyone was on high alert right now after all. 

HE soon made his way into the building and fumbled with the key to open his dorm. Although it was unlikely that someone was going to kill on the first night, he still couldn't help but feel frightened. HE made his way into his dorm and locked the door behind him and quickly sank to the floor. He sighed in relief and then realised the stupidity of him being so frightened. He proceeded to promptly scold himself and then dragged himself into his bed.

HE then felt his pocket, noticing something was poking his leg. It was the e-handbook. He must have ignored the part when Monokuma had given it to them. He turned it on. It had its usual icons but this time it had an 'Under construction' icon at the end of the row. When he tried clicking on it nothing happened. Oh right, it was under construction. Stupid. Well, that's something else that is different. Maybe it's time to stop pointing out things that are different and just except the fact that this may end up being an unpredictable game. Now that's an outcome he really didn't want...