"No… no this isn't happening… "

Kaede covered her mouth with her hands after the events that had just transpired before her eyes. She was perfectly fine with facing death head on if it meant that she would protect her friends, but she wasn't prepared for anyone dying for her sake.

"Since this is the first trial", Monokuma said earlier

"And considering the circumstances of the case, I believe I'll throw in something for you hope-filled jackasses!"

"To think a degenerate male would take the blame even if he wasn't responsible… ", Tenko muttered to herself.

It was only a matter of seconds before Monokuma declared his special condition, yet Shuichi immediately took up on it. It was as if he was Kaede's Jesus, dying for her sins that she committed. Sure the murder was on complete accident, but there was no such thing to appease her crime except for putting her neck on the chopping block and waiting for the cold steel of the axe that would end her life.

"Shuichi! Dammit! Don't you dare go up there! Don't you fucking dare!", Kaito shouted at him as he ascended the stairs.

The goateed astronaut tried to run up there and stop him, but a heavy hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Kaito, please don't do it. Shuichi is true gentleman, so he take blame so nobody else get hurt."

Kaito looked even more pissed off, but went back to his stand and gritted his teeth.

"S'not like I have to be okay with this… "

"Since Bakamatsu-chan never did intend to kill, I'll let somebody else take the blame if they want to. That way, she'll live with the regret that she killed two people, yet remains unpunished!", Monokuma had proposed.

"Oh! What a great idea, pops! This'll be so fun to watch!", Monotaro exclaimed.

"Indeed. I calculate that the percent of despair will increase by 72%", Monosuke said after whipping out a calculator.

"I'll do it", Shuichi immediately said.

He was already at the top of the stairs and looked at the collar hanging from the ceiling. As he reached for the collar, he heard Kaede shout at him.

"Shuichi! Stop! Please!"

"Quickly, don't let her go!", Kirumi said.

Everyone struggled to stop the Ultimate Pianist, but she slipped right through their grasp. Ryoma appeared to be the only one who stood in her way.

"Ryoma, please, let me speak with him."

The short tennis player mulled over the idea, then let out a deep sigh.

"Don't do anything reckless", he said as he stepped out of the way.

As she ran past him and up the stairs, she was just too late to stop Shuichi.

*CLICK*

"No!"

Shuichi already attached the collar around his neck and stood there, waiting for her. She tried to remove it, but the steel was already locked in, never to open again. She cried tears while prying at the metal nonetheless.

"Please, please, please, open!"

Suddenly, Shuichi put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away.

"Please, Kaede. Stop making this more difficult than it should be."

Kaede stopped and looked up into his eyes. They were just peeking right behind his hat, yet she could see the tears streaming from them.

"This was my choice, so please stay for them… stay for me."

Kaede shook her head.

"I was the one who killed Rantaro! I deserve to be punished, not you!"

"No, I'm the one who should die."

"Wha-?"

He suddenly pulled her into a hug. She could feel his hands quivering, whether in fear or in sadness, she could not tell.

"I considered lying to everyone to let you live, but when you told me to prove you guilty, it felt like stabbing you in the back. Not to mention, I would betray everyone if I told them you were innocent. Really, even considering such a thing is a crime unto itself."

"Did you remember when I told you how I became a detective?"

Kaede blinked out her tears and nodded.

"You said that the man who was the murderer had a justified action, yet the truth had killed him."

Shuichi nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. Ever since then, I was afraid of pursuing the truth. But you, you never wavered from the path. Everyone else needs you to live so you can keep chasing the truth and eventually find it. Someone like me who can't even look people right in the eye would just be a hindrance."

Kaede had stopped crying at this point, but she still felt a heavy impression in her chest. She understood his motives, but she could not stand to face them. How was she any different from him right now? She was nothing but a coward, not able to accept the bitter reality of the situation like he couldn't accept the cold-hard truth.

Shuichi saw his friend's sadness and bowed his head.

"Here, take this."

He took off his hat and handed it to Kaede.

"You said that you wanted to see me without my hat on, right? Well, here's something to remember me by."

"Alrighty then! I think we've had enough blubbering for one day!", Monokuma said as he pulled a small gavel out.

Kaede's eyes widened when she saw the button pop out of the ground and come up to the devil bear's level.

"Wait! Hold on! Just please let me talk to him more!"

"Iiiiiiiiiit's"

"No! Please! Just one more minute! Stop!"

"Puuuunishment"

"Stop! I'll do anything! Just stop! Stop! STOOOOP!"

"TIIIIIIIIIME!"

*CLICK*

Shuichi Saihara has volunteered in the place of the murderer, Kaede Akamatsu. Commencing punishment.

Shuichi was suddenly sitting in a chair and had his hands cuffed to the arms. After struggling a little, he looked around.

"A courtroom?"

Monokuma sat up in the judge's chair with a large powdered wig.

"Shuichi Saihara! For your crimes against the defendant, you have been charged with… "

The Ultimate Death Penalty

The chair he was sitting in was suddenly discharging hundreds of volts of electricity, coursing through his body. His screams of pain could be heard from the confines of his prison. After what seemed like hours, the current stopped. Shuichi slumped in the chair, but the slow rising and falling of his shoulders indicated that he was still alive.

Just at that moment, the cuffs on the chair unlocked and he was being dragged around by his metallic collar. He felt a sharp pain in his back as he was clamped onto a wooden stake. The sound of guns cocking could be heard in front of him. There, on the firing squad, were all the Monokubs lined with their rifles trained at him. Monokuma swiped his white flag and they began to open fire.

Several bullets had passed through him, while others merely grazing his arms and legs. Every shot was calculated to ensure that they weren't fatal, but would cause immense pain. Finally, when he couldn't take it anymore, Shuichi was dragged by the claw once more and was held up in the air.

He could barely breathe; the collar was holding him up and stopping the air flow to his lungs. At last, his eyes rolled back into his head and he let himself sag like a doll. As a final parting gift, a giant mallet was brought over the entire scene, leaving the Ultimate Detective as nothing but a bloody pulp on the ground.

A few days later…

Kaede couldn't stop the nightmares from coming. Every single night, she dreamt of Shuichi being in arms reach until he was always smashed into a pool of blood by the mallet, most of his blood and gore landing on her in the process.

Everyone else had decided to call a ceasefire to make a funeral for their brave friend in sacrificing his life, a kind of final send-off. Even though they had all decided that what happened was because of Shuichi's choices, Kaede still couldn't shake off the responsibility.

After her most recent bout of the hellish nightmare, Kaede sat up from her bed and decided to take a cold shower to wash out the possibility of her falling asleep again to meet the same scenario. The ice-cold water helped a little, but it did next to nothing to idle her mind. As she stepped out of the shower, she noticed the only memento of him on her desk.

The hat stayed on the desk, as if it had been there for ages. It was worn out and tattered after the years that Shuichi had worn it, but for some reason, Shuichi still kept it until the very end.

Kaede grabbed the hat and laid back down on her bed, holding the accessory close to her chest.

"What I'd give to do it all over again… I wish you were still here with me… "

"Everyone else needs you to live so you can keep chasing the truth and eventually find it."

"The truth, huh? What good will it do if it's terrible?"

She stared at the hat, expecting an answer. The hat, however, did not reply.

"No, I have to hope that the truth will be bright, even if it's not!"

She sat up and placed the hat on her shelf.

"I swear! I will find out the truth! Your sacrifice won't be in vain Shuichi! I will help everyone end this game once and for all!"

After yelling that, she caught her breath and continued to stare at the old hat.

"Thank you, Shuichi. Thank you for opening my eyes. Thank you for everything… "

Aaaaaaaaaand we are BACK! Hey guys! If you're wondering why I'm posting this, it's because I felt like I needed a break from my old fanfiction that I was writing. Somebody suggested me to write this, and, being a fan of dangan ronpa, I am doing this! This will only be a one-shot, so don't expect anything else from here. Also, expect some more one-shots if I have writer's block or if I feel bored. Anyways, Seeya!