Sayaka Maizono Stars in: Fourth Wall Theatre
Authors Note: This story is dedicated to JCW18. I know you always believed Sayaka deserved some more love, so here is my attempt at giving it to her.
Sayaka awoke with a jolt as she sat straight up in the chair she was currently in. She looked around, panting, wondering where she was.
"Where… where am I?" she said as her eyes started to adjust to her surroundings. She realised that she was in what appeared to be an old fashioned movie theatre. Stretching all around her where endless empty black seats that only ended when they touched the aged oak walls that lined the sides of the building. In front of her hung a massive projection screen that was lined with red curtains that hung to both sides of it.
Sayaka just sat there confused. How had she gotten there? The last thing that she remembered was that she had been in her old friend Makoto Naegi's room. She remembered asking him to swap rooms with her. She remembered the anxiety that had filled her when she thought about the video Monokuma had shown her. She remembered the kitchen knife… She remembered… Leon.
Sayaka started to cry. The memories of her attempted murder flooding back to her in an emotional torrent. She buried her head in her hands.
"Leon… Oh my God I'm so sorry." She said through her tears, her sobs echoing through the empty theatre.
"Well it looks like you're finally awake!" A loud chipper voice exclaimed, echoing through the empty room.
Sayaka stopped her crying and shot her head up, looking side to side for the voices origin. She saw no one.
"Who… where are you!?"
"Don't you worry about it babe! I'm talking to you over the speakers in the theatre."
Sayaka looked around the room again. She spotted in the four corners of the room two sets of speakers were installed in each corner.
"Now that you've calmed down and gotten your memories back allow me to introduce myself. The names Jack, I guess you could say I run this place, though owning things here doesn't really mean much."
Sayaka rubbed the tears from her eyes. "What are you talking about? How did I get here? The last thing I remember I'd been…" Her eyes widened and her face went pale as the words died in her throat.
"Stabbed?" Jack said finishing her sentence.
Sayaka started to shake like a leaf as she wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth in her chair.
"No, no this can't be happening. What does this mean? Did I… am I?"
"Yep! Dead as a doornail."
Sayaka screamed. She rolled out of her seat, crumpling into the fetal position. Tears flowed down her face freely as she shook were she lay.
"No, NO! This can't be happening! I'm in hell. In in fucking hell!"
Sayaka spent a few moments doing this before Jacks voice came through again.
"Woah, woah! I'm sorry man! Look I think I may have worded that badly!"
Sayaka stopped shaking and looked up.
"The truth is that yes you did die. But you're not really dead."
Sayaka got off from the floor and stood.
"Because technically, you were never really alive, if that makes any sense."
Sayaka once again rubbed the tears out of her eyes and adjusted her clothes back into a presentable state.
"No… no it doesn't make any fucking sense!" Sayaka shouted, anger creeping into her voice. "Look just tell me what the fuck is going on?!"
Jack sighed. "Oh boy this is awkward. How do I put this… well to put it bluntly you as a person never existed in the real world. You're… fictional."
Sayaka's eyes widened in shock. She stood there in silence for a few moments, silently processing the information. She cast her eyes towards one of the speakers, trembling.
"Is this some kind of sick joke!?"
"No, I swear it isn't!" Jack could be heard pressing buttons over the speaker. "Look I know this is a lot to take in but you have to believe-"
"Shut up! Just SHUT THE FUCK UP! What do you mean I'm fictional!?" The girl looked at each of the speakers franticly trying to get some kind of information. "I'm a real human being, I was born in Japan and raised by my father! I went to Sixth Black Root Middle School where I discovered my talent! I-"
"Was best friends with Makoto Naegi, later known as the Ultimate Lucky Student. You became friends with him because you were touched by the kindness showed by him after he nursed an injured crane back to health after it got lost and stuck in the school pool. After leaving middle school you spent many years further developing your talent, which unfortunately lead to you to help sabotage many other burgeoning pop stars carriers in order to keep yourself on top. After you we're accepted into hopes peak you became so emotional that to calm yourself down you stayed in your room for two whole days with a stuffed toy duck that you think you are too old for but can't let go of completely. The last thing you remember before coming here is getting stabbed by one Leon Kuwata, who killed you after you attempted to murder him. You picked him as your victim as you disliked the fact that he seemed to only want to get into music to pick up girls." The voice paused. "Did I miss anything?"
The Ultimate Pop Sensation was struck silent. "How… how did you…?"
"Know all of that? Well mostly I got the info from the wiki, but also your freetime events."
Sayaka slowly sat back in the chair, a look of total confusion covering her face. "Freetime events?"
"Oh by the way I know what you might be thinking, 'this is all some trick by Junko the mastermind to get me feel despair'. Look I promise that I'm not, but you just need to let me explain what's going-"
"Junko the mastermind?!" Sayaka's eyes widened even larger than before. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Oh… right. You wouldn't know that. You died in chapter one, didn't you?"
Sayaka seemed on the verge of tears once more.
"Wait, wait! Please don't cry." A slow sigh came through the speakers. "Look I'm sorry, I've made a total cock up of this. I'm really not good at talking to people, especially given the circumstances. Look… I'm going play some stuff over the theatre projector, hopefully that will help clear things up for you. Feel free to ask me any questions that you have. Take your time, okay?"
Sayaka started to calm down, and slowly nodded her head.
"Thank you. Let me just get this set up."
The lights in the theatre dimmed and the projector started to flair to life.
"Right let me start again, properly this time." Jack cleared his throat. "The reason that I brought you here was because… well, I wanted to show you that you don't need to hate yourself for lying to Makoto and trying to kill Leon. I knew that your sprit would never rest if you carried that guilt with you, so I wanted to show you why the bad things that happened to you happened at all."
The projector cast its first image onto the projection screen. Sayaka could see an image of a dorky looking Japanese man, standing in front of a board that had images of Monokuma printed on them.
"This is Kazutaka Kodaka. I guess you could call him the one who made you. He's the one who created the Danganronpa game series."
Sayaka looked at the screen perplexed. "Dangan… ronpa?"
Jack could be heard suppressing a laugh. Sorry, sorry it's just your reaction reminded me of that one scene in V3. Man that was trippy." Sayaka didn't respond. "Right, moving this along…" The next thing that came onto the screen were images of concept art for the series, the first of which depicted her. Soon this was followed by Makoto, Byakuya, Aoi, Chinro and soon the rest of her class, some looking very different in their earliest designs.
The Ultimate Pop Sensation was enthralled as she saw herself and her classmates drawn in many different stages of dress and appearance. A thought crossed her mind. "Wait… so your telling me that the way I act, the way I look, even my physical appearance was all designed by some game artists?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
"Well if that's the case…" She looked down at her chest. Her annoyingly average chest. "They could have at least given me some bigger boobs!" She crossed her arms across her chest, pouting.
Jack could be heard choking on something over the speaker. "Wha- wha- WHAT?!"
"Yeah! Have you seen Hina? The girl gets blessed with the chest of a goddess and I'm stuck here Miss Average! One cup size lower and I'd be flat."
Jack remained silenced, speechless for the first time this encounter. "I show you that you and your friends were designed by artists and you complain about your boobs?!" He said disbelievingly.
Sayaka sighed. "Well to be honest I'm just trying to stop myself going crazy. I guess I'm trying to find the humour in all this." She darkly chuckled looking at her feet, a sense of melancholy washing over her. She soon however perked up again. "But seriously, couldn't that Kodaka guy have thrown a girl a bone?! I can't begin to tell you all the nights I spent looking in the mirror topless hoping one day-"
Jack could only watch in disbelief as Sayaka started to rant on and on about having not been drawn with D cups. She left little to the imagination as she pointed to the screen and then pointed to the corresponding part of her body, a few times even lifting her cleavage in her hands.
"Well at least she's back to her normal self. Vanity, thy name is woman indeed." Jack thought to himself. He was baffled that this of all things had gotten an engaged response from her, but he was relived. At least she wasn't sad or on the verge of madness anymore.
"And another thing! What about the girls in class 77? Have you seen them?! They all look like supermodels! What I wouldn't do to have Mikan's a-"
"OKAY, OKAY! Look…" He sighed, feeling very awkward. "I can tell that this topic is… sensitive to you. So let's move on, shall we?"
Sayaka looked up at one of the speakers, grinning. "Well, good to know that at least you're now as uncomfortable as I've been. Seems that we're finally on the same page." She winked.
Jack was taken aback. "Was she just… trolling me!?" He thought.
"Guess I should rename myself the Ultimate Drama Queen." She thought with a sly smirk, happy she and her mysterious host where finally now on equal terms.
"Anyway let's get back to topic… err what was the topic? I lost track. Hang on…" He could be heard shuffling through his notes. "Oh yes! You are a game character and was designed not born, got it. Now onto the next topic: Why you were given the role you had in the game."
Sayaka's smirk disappeared at those words. Her role. The role in which she tried to kill one of her friends, only to end up the victim. That role.
"I don't know how to say this, but the reason that you were killed off so soon in the game was because…" He paused for a moment "Because you and Leon where both used as the design base for all the other characters in the game. However after having to come back to you two every time they wanted a new character, well… they kinda grew sick of looking at you both and decided to kill the two of you off first." There was silence. "Please don't get mad." He said in a meek voice.
Sayaka stood up and look of disbelief crossing her face. "WHAT!? They grew sick of looking at me!?"
"Wait, wait please! I'm sorry you had to hear that, but unfortunately it's the truth. It would be wrong to lie to you."
"But… but why? Why would they grow sick of me?" She slumped in her chair.
"From what I can tell… there words not mine, by the way!" He emphasized. "They got bored with you."
Sayaka had the thousand yard stare. Soft tears came from the corners of her eyes. "I was killed because they were bored with me?" She squeezed her eyes shut. "How can the world be so cruel?"
Sayaka began to sob once more, this time softy, defeated.
Jack's voice came through once more, however this time it was soft and understanding. "I'm sorry I had to tell you that Sayaka. No one should have to hear that." He sighed once more. "But if I didn't show you that, you wouldn't have appreciated what I'm going to show you next." He could be heard getting out of a chair. "I'm coming down to see you, I'm going to show you what I brought you here to see in the first place, so please don't cry." The microphone was turned off along with the projector, leaving the room once more silent.
Sayaka looked up from her hands, once more wiping the tears from her face as she heard movement coming from outside the doors to the cinema. She stood up from her seat and moved towards it. Soon the doors swung open and from the doors a strange looking figure emerged, standing in the cinema lobby. He looked quite dorky, with thick rimmed glasses that hung on his nose, greasy hair and pale white skin that looked as if he stayed indoors a lot. He could have been mistaken for just another geek if his clothes didn't draw most of her attention. He wore long flowing robes, inscribed upon them where countless words and sentences that seemed to constantly shift and change the longer she looked at them. He had golden sparkling gloves and boots that seemed to end in upwards points. On his head he wore a diamond pointed hat that seemed way too big for him and glimmered with ten multi-coloured gems that were fixed onto its surface. In his right hand he held what would have been a staff, if it wasn't shaped like a pencil, a pencil that was as tall as him.
He gave her a slight bow. "Err, hi. My names Jack… Jack the Muse."
...
...
Sayaka stood there dumbfounded. If she had not been trying to keep her composure her jaw would have hit the floor. "Is this some kind of joke?" She thought to herself. Well two could play at that game!
"Did you sue them?" She asked innocently.
Jack raised an eyebrow, confused. "Sue who?"
"The cosplay factory when you were blown up inside of it." She stifled a laugh.
Jack felt a vein in his head twitch. "Oh ha ha, very funny." He said unamused. "Look all Muses look something like this."
She stared blankly at him.
"You don't know what a Muse is, do you?"
She nodded her head.
He smacked his left hand to his face, groaning in frustration. "Why does nobody ever know what that is?" He rubbed his face. "Look to tell a long story short we are basically Gods of art. I just happen to be one dedicated to Japanese anime, manga and any other media related to that."
"So you're the God of weebs?"
He grit his teeth. "No, I am not the God of weebs!" He shook his head, trying to keep his cool. "What is up with you? Why are you treating this like some kind of joke?"
"Because this whole situation is a fucking joke!" She shouted. "I mean look at me I get stabbed, die and now I'm god knows where talking to some nerd with no fashion sense!" She started to laugh, it was a hollow laugh.
"Look I know that this is all a lot to take in but it'll be okay. The reason I brought you here in the first place wasn't just so that you know that you didn't need to hate yourself, I also wanted to make sure you knew that even know the creators may not have cared for you… you are loved." He smiled. "There are so many people out there that you have brought happiness to."
Sayaka stopped laughing and looked at him, stunned. "Really?"
"Yes. Look, come with me. Its time I showed you what I mean." He grabbed his pencil in both hands and with one might swipe he seemed to open up a doorway sized rift in the space behind him. "Follow me." He stepped through the space. Sayaka not knowing what else to do, followed him.
What she saw next was nothing short of amazing. A wide expanse of space, glimmering endlessly with rifts that opened to new worlds. It was as if the internet had been made into a physical reality. Planes of data and information flew by her at rapid speeds, each a portal to a vast expanse of new information. Jack and Sayaka walked seemingly on a floor that constructed and deconstructed itself as they walked forwards deeper into the plane.
"You're probably wondering where we are?" Jack asked. "Well I guess you could say this is my data cloud. Here I can access any amount of areas and places related to my domain of anime and manga."
He held up his pencil. It started to glow as power surged through it and in a moment the rifts that had once been flouting aimlessly arranged themselves in an orderly manner in front of him.
"Right let's see…" He began look at the rifts, swiping each away as he looked for the one he needed. "Fairy Tail no, Dragon Ball no, High School DXD no, Boku no- NO!" He exclaimed quickly swiping away the last one. He searched for a little longer, Sayaka growing restless behind him when suddenly. "Ah yes! Here it is. Danganronpa."
He dismissed the other rifts with a flick of his wrist and gripped his pencil in both hands. Then with one mighty swipe the Danganronpa rift expanded into another doorway.
"Come on, this is what I've been meaning to show you." He walked through the rift and disappeared.
"Well I've come this far. I guess I don't have much choice." The idol thought to herself and walked through after him.
She found herself in another area similar in size to Jack's data cloud, but the area was far more defined. The area was white as well but in front of her giant letters seemed to rise and fall as up arrows and down arrows where attached to them. The sky was a banner of sorts, made up of pictures. Some of them she recognised as her classmates from Hope's Peak, while others she had never seen before.
She looked around in amazement. "What kind of place is this?" She asked.
Jack smiled. "For once I can give a simple answer. We're in Reddit."
The idol's eyes went as big as saucers. "What?" She said flatly.
Jack quirked an eyebrow. "After everything you've seen this seems so unbelievable?"
Sayaka thought for a moment. "Point taken."
She perked up realising something. "Does this mean I can finally get some payback on those cheeky bastards who trolled my latest album release?!" He rubbed her hands an evil grin appearing on her face. "Lazy rehash of my first album my fucking ass! When get my hands on those dicks I'll shove that 'rehash' so far up their-"
"WOAH! Hang on a minute there. This isn't the time for you to go into evil mastermind mode. That version of Reddit never even existed." He said worriedly, holding his left hand up.
"So those assholes never exisited?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Well I guess a girl can make do."
Jack looked at her, slight disturbed. "That's… good to hear. Well back to topic I wanted to show you some posts on here from normal fans around the world."
He tapped his pencil against one of the sets of blue letters and a large picture appeared. It was a picture of Sayaka and Aoi having fun dressing Chihiro up in frilly, girly clothing. Chihiro had a cute blush on his face.
"Aww, that's so cute!" Sayaka said, a bright smile crossing her face.
Jack chuckled. "Yes. Fanart like this is very popular with the fanbase. They love to imagine a world in which you all get to live nice peaceful lives."
He scrolled through many different posts like this, pictures of the idol and her friends, living cute innocent lives. Occasionally they came across strange memes, one set involving gangs of some sorts surrounding each character.
"I have no idea how that trend got started." He said rolling his eyes at the meme.
However soon they came to a post that made Jack hesitate to open it. "However not everyone in this fandom is as forgiving of the actions you took." Jack looked at her sombrely. Sayaka's mood sunk as she heard the news. In the link there was a massive discussion going on between different people. A prevalent theme of discussion was Sayaka's betrayal of Makoto, how she had set him up after pretending to be his friend and that she was a lying snake in the grass. It appeared that this was not the only thread of its type on the website.
Sayaka closed her eyes tightly.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." Jack said.
Sayaka let out a sigh, looking up. "No its okay. They're right to condemn me for that."
"But Sayaka, you were only doing what you were written to-"
"No. I may have been created by some artist's basement, but I'm more than that. I'm real now and I should take responsibility for what I've done." She looked around her at all the posts both positive and negative. "What I did to Makoto and Leon was wrong. I was desperate, but I shouldn't have taken the cowardly way out. The way out that played into Junko, or whoever was the mastermind's hands." She smiled at Jack, her eyes watery. "I only hope one day I'll see them again, so I can tell them how sorry I am."
Jack forced himself not to become emotional. "Then my work here is done." He said smiling. "One last thing. Before I let you move on I want to show you one last thing."
He grabbed his pencil one last time and created another rift. The idol didn't need an explanation this time and quickly followed him.
Through the portal where more posts like the Reddit plane, but these posts seemed to instead be titles to stories. There where thousands of them.
"This is the plane of fanfiction." Jack said. "I have specifically narrowed it down to works relating to Danganronpa."
He summoned a few select titles down towards them. "Here we have a choice selection of mine. Many authors out there did not like the way certain characters in the franchise where handled. You happen to one of many in that regard. These fans have taken it upon themselves to give characters like you a chance to finally shine in a way that they originally did not get to."
Sayaka looked through the stories. She saw stories of her redemption, where she survived the situation she had put herself in and became a better person because of it. She saw stories where they were put into completely different killing games, some with less or more people than originally put into the game she was a part of. And finally there where the stories that had no despair in them at all, where the characters got live the happy lives that dreamed for when they were first accepted into Hope's Peak Academy.
Jack continued. "There is a lot of love out there for you all. People love this series and the communities that have sprouted up from it. There are countless discords and other chatrooms dedicated to exploring your universe and its beloved characters." Jack looked over to Sayaka. She was crying. "Wait Sayaka Please. I'm sorry if I've upset you, we can-"
"No you dummy." She looked at him, smiling through her tears. "I'm just so happy that we could help bring some joy to people. I know what that's like, being an idol allowed me to bring countless smiles to people faces." She wiped her tears away. "Thank you for showing me this."
Jack wiped away a tear from his eye. "That's all I wanted to hear. I think it's time I let you move on, now that you have no regrets."
He placed his left hand on her shoulder which started to glow. Sayaka could feel herself moving on to another plane. "Goodbye Sayaka, I'm sending you to the place beyond canon, where you and your friends may live on the fans hearts forever."
Sayaka felt a complete scene of peace wash over her. Content that this could be the start of a new peaceful life for her, she gave one final wave to Jack before finally she passed on, vanishing from Jack's sight. Jack smiled and walked away through another portal, another job done.