TheSeriousJoke

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

Hisakawa Hiroki

Despite the stress of the situation, and the overwhelming sense of impending doom, Hisakawa somehow found it in himself to keep it together for a little while longer. Usui was counting on him, and if he let himself fall apart now, he might miss something that could mean the difference between life and death—once again, he found himself grateful for the sense of direction she provided him. As soon as the trial was over, he could lock himself in his cabin and have whatever breakdown he wanted; but right now, he had to focus on the present.

He took a moment to pull out his monokuma pad and see what the information everyone else mentioned said, but the information didn’t seem immediately helpful, so he kept it to the back of his mind for now. Instead, he looked closely at the scene in front of him as Usui prompted, nodding along as she spoke.

He thought the parts of the scene through carefully, rambling through thoughts as they came, “Well, it’s safe to assume she’s been dead for at least a few hours now; dried blood is hard to fake. And it definitely seems the fish hook is involved somehow, but we can’t confirm it as the murder weapon until we inspect her wound, and uh… Well, I’d rather leave that to someone smarter and… less likely to get ill,” He finished, looking at Usui for some sort of confirmation.

~~~

Himura Chikako

Himura scrunched up her face, fury burrowing wrinkles into her brow; once again, it seemed no one cared to pay attention to her, and Mr. Hero-complex Shirou was coming in to order everyone around. She silently huffed. Whatever. These people didn’t want her help, and she wasn’t interested in giving it.

Instead, she stomped away to exit the cabin, ignoring any scenery or people as she walked by. She only stopped to grasp Flare’s wrist as she walked by, “You’re with me, Flare. I’ve got questions that need answers, and I want you with me to figure it out,” she stated.

As she pulled Flare with her outside the cabin, Himura looked around for the campers that have yet to make it to the scene. Soon, her eyes feel on Lilly’s short stature, and she called out to her, “Lilly, over here! I need you in on something!”

When she had the two beside her, she started speaking with them in a hushed tone, “So listen, I’m not totally sure how anyone got into the cabin, since I don’t have any doubt they locked it; but if you want my bet, I’d say it’s gotta be the thief. Dude’s gotta be a master at lockpicking! I say we check out his lab to see if we can get any dirt on him, and we might as well check the rest of the labs while we’re at it. Sound good?”

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

Hisakawa Hiroki

Even after being tied up together for the past few days, Hisakawa was amazed at Usui’s ability to remain calm under the circumstances. She hardly seemed to recognize the danger of the situation, even as it became more and more obvious just what had happened. What amazed him more was the fact that she wanted to investigate with him, but he was hardly complaining. He had gotten used to her presence, and if he had to guess, she might feel the same way. Plus, he could hardly turn down a concrete sense of direction.

He followed after her, his quick steps betraying his nerves; though the way he shook as his nails dug into the flesh of his palm. The approach to the cabin took almost no time at all, and if the horror-struck faces were anything to go by, Monokuma hadn’t been lying. He quickly turned his attention to the floor, however. He didn’t want to have to look at the body just yet.

He ended up stopping just behind Usui, and waited as she turned around to look at him, as unreadable as ever, “Hey, can you take the lead? I'm not... very good at this."

He blinked, surprised, “I—take the lead? Um…” He held his breath, deep in thought for a moment, “Yeah, I guess I could do that,” he muttered.

He took in a deep breath, taking a moment to prepare himself. He didn’t want to go in, or even so much as acknowledge the body, but Usui was counting on him now, and he didn’t want to let her down.

He made his way passed her, and brought his eyes up to look at Fukuda’s body. Her throat had been cut open, her still, limp body empty of life; and as Hisakawa made eye contact with her, he suddenly found himself struck by how funny it all was. The confusion of arriving here, the stress brought on by the rules and trying to escape, all the fighting and fear and every little thing: what was the point of it all, anyway? He started to laugh, a quiet and breathy chuckle.

And as he laughed, the reality of the situation began to settle in. He was looking at the dead body of a girl he barely knew, who was murdered by another person stuck in this camp that he barely knew, and her murder had to be solved or else everyone but the murderer will die, and the only detectives they had were a bunch of emotionally stunted, moronic dirtbags!

He covered his face with his hands, trying not to let himself dissolve to tears, “God, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me…”

As the shock slowly ebbed, he turned to look at Usui, “Well… she seems very dead. Uh. Where do we go from here?”

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

Himura Chikako

Himura was always the “run, don’t walk” sort, always speeding into whatever situation came at her and racing with herself to finish up homework or chores. Even in this crazy death game they were in, Himura could hardly find it in her to slow down her usual pace, zipping this way and that between cabins.

But as that blood-curdling scream hung in the air, she stayed firmly lying on the bed, letting the sound harmlessly wash over her, taking in a shaky breath. She could probably convince herself it was just one of the prissy bitches overreacting to a bug, if she wanted, but it was hard to call that shrill terror a sign of safety.

She was almost non-responsive at first, simply moving as Hibiki did to keep the cuffs from pulling. But as the announcement came on, informing of the murder and the ability to seperate, she did so, paying no mind to Hibiki as she continued onward.

She walked over to the cabin where others began to convene, a sense of nausea pulling her down. She probably couldn’t run even if she wanted to, her body as shaken as her mind. A person—a person she *knew*, trapped in the same circumstances as her, trying to find life under a confusing system—had been murdered.

It was a hard thought to confront, and though that overwhelming sense of nausea pushed her to ignore this situation, to just stay in bed and shut everything out, she knew that wasn’t an option. She looked at the body as she entered the cabin. Fukuda Naomi had been murdered, and that was simply a fact Himura had to deal with. The only question now is who among them would go down with her?

“You should stop staring, it’s rude,” Himura said, trying to cut the tension a little, but lacking any mirth, “Let’s just focus on solving the case, yeah?”

~~~
Hisakawa Hiroki

Hisakawa was not woken up by the morning announcement, but he was pretty surprised that he was able to get any sleep at all last night. Despite the absurdity of the circumstances, it seemed he was slowly starting to adjust to being locked up in a summer camp under the pretense of killing one another, and even being forcibly tied to another camper. In a lot of ways it was actually kind of nice to be away from home; he missed it, of course, but being away made him realize how monotonous his life was sometimes.

He entertained this thought for only a moment before he heard a scream, and his heartbeat started racing. His mind fiddled with the question over and over, ‘what could it be?’, though the answer seemed obvious. He glanced over at Usui. She had only just woken up, and despite the tension, he couldn't bring himself to bother her just yet. Nothing was certain; he was probably just overthinking it like he always did.

And then the body discovery announcement played.

Hisakawa suddenly felt dizzy. He was alight with fear, and he was desperate to confirm what Monokuma said was true. But his body was stuck, unable to move the way his mind wanted to; it wouldn’t be hard at all to jump up and search the other cabins, but... in here, everyone was alive, and nothing had to be confronted. But that was just him selfishly protecting himself, wasn’t it?

Regardless, he was practically shaking, trying to choose between contrary instincts. Eventually, he found himself turning to Usui, hundreds of thoughts running through his head, but all he could ask was the incredibly dumb question of, “Did you hear that?”

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

Ding Dong Dong Ding!

The screens around camp suddenly flicked on, revealing the sadistic bear, “A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a class trial will begin!” He announced, beaming with glee despite the weight of his words, “Please remember that a refusal to participate in the trial will be appropriately punished! I’ll provide you with further instructions once the investigation time is up, and I suggest you use your time wisely. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to call on me.”

“As an additional announcement, your handcuffs are no longer activated! You’re free to move as you please from here on out!”

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

The third morning of the motive comes onto the came like any other, the sun shining bright onto the camp. Some of the campers lay awake as the sun rises and the minutes tick closer to the morning alarm, kept up by paranoia or anxiety. Some sleep to the last minute, their minds as at ease enough to sleep.

As the morning announcement rings through the camp, one student wakes up in a groggy haze. It isn’t long before they begin to notice something’s off. Maybe it’s the fact their partner has yet to move, or maybe they notice the scent of blood in the air. Regardless, it’s at this moment that Snow turns to see herself handcuffed to the corpse of Fukuda Naomi, her neck sliced open. Snow scream, audiable to everyone in the nearby cabins.

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

The fireplace of the campsite was a tranquil place. None of the students ever visited it on any normal occasion, but the situation right now was far from that. Both Ayu and Hiroki sat on one of the large stones dotted around, just big enough to accommodate two people. Neither of them had said much while they were sitting there, or even at any other point in time. Earlier in the day, Hiroki had suggested to come here for some rest. Ayu was daydreaming like usual while the boy tried desperately to cope with the awkwardness of being stuck together for at least 1420 minutes in any given day. His partner’s silence didn’t help much either, not until he finally heard something come out of her mouth.

“...Hey. What’s your opinion of all this?” she asked rather cryptically. Ayu didn’t turn to look at him as she posed the question, either. Her gaze remained focused upwards, just above the treeline, as she stared at the bright blue sky.

“Uh…” Hiroki turned to look at her for a brief moment, before returning his attention to the ground, “Well,” He mumbled; he didn’t want to have to ask her to clarify, but he obviously wasn’t getting it, so he sighed and asked, “About what, exactly? The motive? Or this whole… killing game situation?”

“Hm… Yeah, most of those I guess…” she absent-mindedly muttered back in response. Her head lowered as she took a renewed interest for the unlit fire pit. “Hey… who’s skin do you think Monokuma is trying to get under?” Ayu continued to interrogate. She pulled with her arm to extend the cord, allowing her to look down at the bracelet on her wrist. “Not just the motive, either… everything so far.”

Hiroki furrowed his brow, giving himself time to think before responding, “Well, to be honest, I don’t really know if they’re trying to target anyone in particular. Nobody seems to be handling this well. I mean, the amount of fighting that’s gone on already, and with many different people, proves it’s getting to most of us, if not everyone…” He then widened his eyes, looking almost flustered as he continued, “Not that I think anyone would kill someone or anything, I just—y’know, this whole thing is stressful, but I think they’ll persevere.”

“So that’s the way you think, huh…?” Ayu said, paused, and asked “Then, do you trust them?” She let the question linger in the air for a few moments, but not long enough for Hiroki to respond to. “Aren’t you afraid of any of them? Or maybe afraid of yourself…? Even you’re not scared, are they?” she continued to question. This time, Ayu looked back at Hiroki, almost expectantly after firing off that flurry. It came paired with one final question. “What are your honest feelings?” she asked, as if to sum it up.

Hiroki stared at Ayu, wide eyed. He let out a quick, breathy laugh, but his face was clearly panicked. What does he say to that? An almost familiar sort of sickness hit him; he really hated being put on the spot like this. But, well, she wanted the truth, and he was in no place to deny that to her… “I don’t know. I don’t know if I trust anyone. And I’d like to think I wouldn’t murder someone, but I’ve surprised myself a lot with things I thought I’d never do. I definitely don’t think I’m going to last in this game if it keeps going, though. I’m… I’m pathetic. I’ll probably die here, and maybe it’ll be what I deserve,” He said, shaky after confessing his thoughts, unwilling to look at Ayu.

“Really?” the girl replied, her monotone voice a bit livelier than usual. “I don’t think you’re that bad of a person… after all, you’re strong enough to be honest. Not everybody is like that,” Ayu said to him, turning her own gaze away. “I think I trust you, though. I don’t think someone who can admit they’re afraid would do something bad.”

“I was only honest because you asked,” He muttered. That sick feeling hadn’t left him, and had somehow seemed to have gotten worse. He was overwhelmed with some emotion, or maybe several, that he just couldn’t place, “But I guess I’m glad you trust me. I have a pretty bad track record with that, though, so… proceed with caution, I guess. It’s easy for me to fall out of line.”

Ayu didn’t respond for a few seconds. It caused Hiroki’s speech to hang in the air for an uncomfortably long time. Then, Ayu let out her delayed “Huh?” as she whipped her head back around. She blinked a few times and said: “Oh... I’m sorry, did you say something? I spaced out a little...”

The girl rubbed her eyes and looked a little fatigued, but she still stood up before Hiroki could. “Hey, let’s go eat something… I’m kind of hungry,” Ayu told him, entirely tone-deaf to the situation.

Hiroki opened his mouth, as if to protest, but just kept his mouth shut and stood up, “Sure, let’s go,” he said. He just hoped she wasn’t going to make him eat in front of her...

Ayu and Hiroki grew a little closer today!

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

Himura Chikako and Matsuo Hibiki

Chikako wasn’t able to keep herself still. She stared at the ceiling, using her legs to push herself off of the table and balance on the hind legs of the chair.

She didn’t understand how Hibiki was able to handle something so boring—and he kept coming back here, too! She had thought maybe he had gotten all the “being boring” out of his system yesterday, when she was first forced here, but nope! Here they were!

None of this was panning out like she thought it would. She just wanted to find a way out, but it seemed like Hibiki was more interested in sitting around doing… uh…

“What the hell are you doing, anyway?” She asked.

Hibiki slowly lifted his eyes off the page and up to the shorter girl. It was much harder for light to come in through the windows, forfeiting any barrier to keep him from looking Chikako in the eye. “I’m comparing psychology and sociology to help understand the other Ultimates and the motive.” He scratched the back of his head and took a sip of the cold water he had brought with him from the mess hall. “It’s... interesting that we would all be paired together for the motive.”

Spread out on the table were scattered papers filled with meticulous notes including color and personality profiles of each of the ultimates along with books stacked next to a handwritten copy of the Killing Game’s rules. Next to each rule was a brainstorming of explanations. On top of the Ultimate pages was a tier list of some kind, valuing Ginshi and Flare at the top and Snow at the bottom.

Chikako’s name was not on the tier list.

Chikako just shrugged off the commentary, not really bothering to dissect the language, “Yeah, okay, whatever,” She lowered herself down, looking at the materials gathered. Her gaze landed on the list, and she yanked it from off the table, a smirk on her face, “So is this like your ‘to bang’ list?” She asked, amusement filling her words.

Hibiki closed the book with a snap and set it lightly down on top of a leaning tower of other books. He then leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table, with his chin resting on his right hand, a small smile curving up his lips, “...Are you unhappy that you aren’t on the list?”

Chikako’s eyes widened, and she looked down to double-check the list. Sure enough, she was the only one not on it. Chikako frowned, throwing the list on the ground with pretend carelessness, “Man, whatever, I don’t want you to want to fuck me anyway! You’d be boring,” She crossed her arms, turning her head away, trying to project an aura of coldness, “... But… I am curious… Why am I not on it?”

Hibiki hadn’t thought past his response, so he changed back to his normal expression while she was looking away, “Purely to save face... People don’t like to be written about behind their backs.” If anyone looked around, they would know he hadn’t made a personality chart for her either. “I suspected we would be spending a lot of time together.” Hibiki took another sip and pulled at his collar, wishing for shorter sleeves. He stared down at the list, willing it to move with his pure laziness, only to give up after .2 seconds.

Chikako huffed, pulling further into herself, “Yeah, alright, sure. Whatever,” She said, further attempting to project her stone cold angst, scrunching her face in an almost comical impersonation of anguish.

As Hibiki watched her continue to pretend, he rubbed at the back of his neck. It wouldn’t do for the atmosphere to get anymore sticky, “...Do you wish to gossip about the other Ultimates? Or would you prefer a different conversational topic?”

As he stood up, he rearranged the almost toppling stack of books and finally picked up the list on the floor, taking a moment to dust it off.

Chikako immediately perked up, her energy resurfacing as if my magic, “Oh, Hibiki, how naughty! Gossiping about the other Ultimates!?” She exclaimed, “Well, if you insist, I’ve definitely had some thoughts I haven’t had the time to air out. Like, what’s up with Shirou hopping on everyone’s dick all the time with his hero schtick? Like, what’s he trying to prove, you know? And like, why are half of the girls here so shitty? I’m like trying to form my girl gang and everything and like so many of them are just so bitchy all the time, you know?” She said, allowing herself to monologue with the excuse given to her.

“But hey, you’re the one who suggested this, so that means you’ve got thoughts of your own. What’s on your mind, Hibiki, hm?”

Immediately a feeling of dread creeped under the blue-haired boy’s skin. Perhaps not the best conversational topic for the both of them... It seems his accommodating tendencies had shown their ugly head again. He moved back to his chair, switching it backwards and resting his arms along the top. “A girl gang? It seems like you’ve thought of a great idea Chikako.” He took a second, swirling Chikako’s question around in his brain, “...I wanted to know more about your interactions, since mine can only go so far... What do you think of our Ultimate Hacker, Lilly Hart?”

From what Hibiki remembered, she seemed to be acting a bit differently after their first meeting with Monokuma. He was missing something in his observation, something had happened to affect her greatly.

But honestly, Hibiki was soon going to run out of energy for small talk, he usually didn’t speak much outside of lessons. Hibiki reached over and took a longer gulp of water.

Despite Hibiki not answering her question, Chikako happily continued to talk, “Lilly? She’s cool. She’s part of my girl gang so she’s legit, but I don’t think she’s actually a high schooler. She’s gotta be like 12 or something. What about you, where’s she on your fuck list? Wait, is she on your fuck list? She shouldn’t be, I wouldn’t mess with that.”

When looking over to the list again, Lilly Hart was indeed on the tier list, on the row before top tier in fact. And where the law was concerned, going with the flow was overreaching Hibiki’s boundaries at this point. Luckily he had swallowed most of the water, but Chikako’s words still left him coughing up a storm as he started to choke. “...She... *cough cough* is infact... *cough* not on that list...” His face grew red, whether from the conversation or choking, it was hard to say. “She reminds me of an old student of mine.”

A few coughs later, he took another sip and seemed to get his throat under control, though it sounded slightly raspier, “Does she seem kinda down to you?”

Chikako shrugged, “Nah. She seems fine. And pretty lively since I last spoke with her, anyway. She’s very focused on all those cameras though, but that’s good. The more we can do to form an escape plan, the better,” Chikako said, then leaned back in her chair, having sombered herself by remembering the circumstances they were under.

Sensing the change in atmosphere changing, Hibiki wondered if Chikako was the type of person to be calmed by uncertain promises. He leaned closer to her from his side of the table, “...Humans make mistakes...” He paused as he tried to better formulate his ideas into words, “And Monokuma must be controlled by a human. A cage created by mankind is never inescapable.” Knowing that he was sounding cheezy and childishly optimistic, he stared down at his own handwriting.

“Hmmm…” Chikako hummed, barely acknowledging the thought, “You know what, I’m gonna head to my lab. I need to get some exercise…” Chikako trailed off, disconnected from Hibiki before he could protest, “I’ll be back soon; stay cool, loser,” She said, giving Hibiki a smile before speed-walking out of the room to the world outside.

Hibiki raised his head to follow her out with his eyes, only to be attacked by the rays of sunlight. He let out a little groan before stuffing his head into his arms on the desk. Comforting would never truly be his strong suit.

The blue haired boy had already done quite a lot for the day and decided it was the perfect time for a siesta, he rolled over to the couch, which had been pulled up to the table for easier access and laid down. Under the cushion, he pulled out Chikako’s personality chart and jotted down a few notes before placing it back into it’s hiding spot. The Tutor then hugged one of the pillows, wishing its heartbeat against his like his baby Ritsu.

Chikako and Hibiki grew a little closer today!

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

“... ‘Like, ugh, go mute’? Is that a real sentence you just said? ‘Like, ugh, go mute’? Jeez, how do you take yourself seriously?”

Monokuma continued to speak, once more addressing the crowd at large, his voice and annoying and high pitched as ever—perhaps more so than usual, “In any case, Snow is correct. You get released from the handcuffs when at least three people people see the dead body of one of your fellow campers! So, you guys better learn to get comfortable with one another!”

“And before any of you seriously try to fight this, allow me to reemphasize a previous point—failure to follow the rules of this motive, or to participate in it at all, will result in execution. So hey, if you really don’t want to be a part of this, that’s fine! But I hope you guys haven’t forgotten that I am deadly serious—you can ask Chikako and Shirou, if you guys like.”

“So, unless there are any objections, I will now be announcing the pairs!” He said, smiling wide as he dramatically pulled out a piece of paper that was completely blank, pretending to read off of it, “So, we have Maiya and Ginshi, Lilly and Flare, Chikako and Hibiki, Hiroki and Ayu, Taka and Ryuma and I guess also Taya, Shirou and Izo, Aurel and Momoe, and last, but certainly not least, Snow and Naomi. Each pair please come and grab your pair of handcuffs!”

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

Current pairs for the motive:

Confirmed pairs:
Hiroki and Ayu
Snow and Naomi
Momoe and Aurel
Shirou and Izo
Lilly and Flare
Chikako and Hibiki
Taka/Taya and Ryuma
Maiya and Ginshi

Danganronpa Alternate: Apologies to Hope (Reboot) [Deader than Disco]

Hm. Interesting reaction. Presence alone seems to accomplish little with this group; perhaps, he had to admit, he had rushed into this one. Certainly, much more careful planning was in order…

“Oh, so you guys aren’t impressed, huh?” Monokuma frowned, lowering his head in an exaggerated expression of sadness, “Man, that’s depressing. I guess this is all a wash, huh? Fine, go to bed then, if you’re so unbothered by all this! And think about your attitude, while you’re at it! Kids these days…” As quickly as he came, he disappeared, leaving with little fan fair.

---

“Aww, you poor thing! They treated you so horribly… I guess your motive didn’t work, huh? Well, not like I expected it to!”

“Oh, yes, that’s what’s going to help us right now—more pointless criticism. Come on, I thought we were on the same team here! Maybe I could have spared an extra five minutes to refine, but even you don’t appreciate my work! You’re just here to bully me like everyone else.”

“That’s just it, Monokuma! I’m the only one on your side. Like you said, they’re all bullies! Selfish, two-faced, and terrible people... but I think it’d be simple to break them, too! They’re only acting brave because there’s no pressure on them—y’know, like before? All we need to do is apply some!”

“Don’t talk about it like it’s so easy! Organizing this whole thing is no small task, and murder isn’t something you can just make happen. I’m the one doing all the hard work here, you know!”

“I know that, you cute little bear! I appreciate all that hard work of yours, but I know them far better than you do… I know all of their little secrets! And since they kept some terrible ones from me, we should treat them the same way they treat others! It’s only fair, right? I’m your partner, Monokuma… so let me tell you my idea!”

---

… What, you want a Monokuma Theatre?
Ha! Sorry, after your backsass today that isn’t happening!
Perhaps it’s a bit early to be using my one pass, but I don’t really care!
But I guess this is fine.
Afterall, I have to cut this one short anyway.
I’m gonna wake you guys up early today!
And before you say “Hey, aren’t these things already short?”
They are, but they take forever to buffer.

---

The morning announcement ran through the camp with its usual shrill tone, commanding the attention of the students.

“Good morning, campers! Sorry to ask you to do something for me early, but I’ve been thinking a lot about what you guys said last night, and I have to agree! There was no way such a simple thing was going to get you to kill one another. Vague promises mean nothing here. The only real currency in this place is the worth of freedom. That being said, please make your way over to the amphitheater as soon as possible; and don’t go slow thinking you can use the fact that it’s early as an excuse!”

As the students eventually found their way to the amphitheatre, Monokuma waited, keeping an eye on the numbers as they walked in.

“Good morning, everybody! I hope you all are just as excited as I am for what I’ve cooked up for you all today! Now, I know you guys weren’t super impressed with my last motive, but I think we can both agree that this one is a lot better. Behold; the high-tech handcuff of the future!”

Saying this, Monokuma holds up what does appear to be a pair of high-tech handcuffs. He held onto the two ends with his hands, the actual cuffs looking like wide bangles more than anything, the cord between them growing and retracting as he pulled the ends apart.

“I spent all last night making these bad boys, and lemme tell you, I think I’m gonna get a lot of mileage out of them. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “what’s the point of handcuffs outside arresting criminals and hot kinky sex?” Well, campers, that one’s easy; forcing you all to stay connected with people you would rather not be around!”

“So, here are the rules. I will get to pick whoever you’re paired with, and the two of you will be forced to wear these handcuffs together. This cord can only stretch long enough so that you guys won’t have to be in the stall with someone while they’re using the bathroom, but that’s as far as it’ll go! Now, these handcuffs do have a feature that allows you to disconnect from one another; however, this only lasts for twenty minutes at a time before you have to reconnect, so don’t go wandering off too far! You guys are allowed to do this once a day, and the feature resets at midnight; once one of you disconnects, that's the only chance you get that day, so be careful when you choose to disconnect. Failure to comply to these rules, or to participate at all, will result in execution.”

“So, without further ado, let’s announce the pairs!”