Chapter 1: MOTIVES

Yonamine:

My door closed with a 'click' behind me as I returned from my time with Kamada. I checked the clock: it was nearly midnight — much later than I was supposed to be out. Tossing my room keys onto the nightstand, I flopped down onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. I let out a tiny yawn, exhausted from today and yesterday's explorations with my classmates.

It was the second night here in this ski lodge of despair. Myself and the other students were trapped. Trapped like rats—or... fish?—at the mercy of a homicidal stuffed penguin in Antarctica. It was almost a humorous situation, if it weren't for, oh, I dunno, the potential for murder.

I didn't want to be overly optimistic and faithful in regards to my fellow students. One of them could very well kill someone. At this point, my bet was on the weird mangaka chick. No one really seemed like a crazy axe-murderer, but... how easily a simple human's mind could snap.

I could keep them in line.... right?

I was lost in thought, further pondering the murderous intent of my fellow classmates when a loud dinging noise resounded throughout the room.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

“Brbrbrheeehee!”

The awful, newly-familiar laugh of Monoguin came after the chimes, followed by a choking sound and a lot of coughing.

“He- *cough* Oha- *cough* ….. Oi! Listen up, you abominab—oh, fishsticks! Is it really *cough* that late? I hope I didn't interrupt anyone's good night's sleep!” the toy's voice wheezed, and it coughed again, attempting to clear its throat. The next time it spoke, the voice was much clearer.

“Uh, anyway! I know you abominables have been getting settled in today, but things are just tooooo quiet! It's been eerie, actually. Chilling to the bone! So, I decided to set up a little something to make things a bit more interesting. Bah! I know it's late, but you kids are young! Sleep is for the weak, right?

“If you check by your doors, you'll see that I've slid an envelope into each of your rooms! These envelopes contain speeeecial information about your classmates! And no, it's not their cell phone numbers or the ladies' bra sizes—I know you were thinking it, telemarketer—it's something that might give you a little incentive to pick a certain target for our wondrous, despairful mutual-killing game! Brbrbrbrrr! Enjoy! Oooh, I'm getting frostbite just thinking about what you guys'll come up with! Don't let me down! Good night, abominables!”

The three dings played again, and all was silent.

Attempting to ignore Monoguin's stab towards me—which was completely offensive, by the way. I thought of more than just girls' racks! Sometimes, I thought about their... you know what? Never mind.

I sat up and looked towards the door. Sure enough, a small, white envelope sat perfectly parallel to the frame, emblazoned with what I assumed to be some sort of minimalist representation of Monoguin. When did that get there...?

I stared at the envelope for a few seconds before sighing and carefully climbing out of my bed. I walked over to the door and knelt down, picking up the envelope. After turning it over a few times in my hand just to make sure it wasn't going to explode or something, I slid my index finger under the flap and ripped it open. A small piece of paper fluttered out, and I grabbed it mid-air. There, scrawled in messy handwriting was exactly what Monoguin had said would be there:

“Man, that Shinjigami Hatori ....... ”

THE MOTIVES ARE BEING RELEASED NOW!
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End