…1
…2
...3
…CLEAR!
I wonder what was happening to me.
…1
…2
…3
…CLEAR!
…
I could just barely make out those words. They were slowly counting up the numbers as if they were preparing for something important… Like a surprise birthday party. Yeah, not like I've ever had one… But it was the same concept.
…1
...2
…3
…SURPRISE!
I was in darkness. Looking around me, I was enveloped in nothing except darkness. Death's blankets wrapped itself around me and made me dance in his palm. It definitely felt like that. It definitely felt like I was acting as a pawn for Death's excitement. I grabbed at my chest and tugged. There was a definite heaviness inside that I couldn't describe. Was it heaviness? Or was it actually pain?
I didn't know, of course. I was still wrapped in that darkness. I was still dying. I smiled at the thought of dying. All my life, I was waiting for something like this to happen. Is it happening now, I thought? Or is it going to avoid me again? Like the three times I survived something like this. I hoped that it would end. This awful torment from God.
Why was I born like this?
Being born like this never got me anywhere.
In life… it's just pain, isn't it? Pain… Pain leads to utter despair… I wanted to feel death's despair wrap itself around me… Swallow me whole; put me out of my misery! I screamed to the people watching above, inside my swelling darkness.
I wanted to leave.
…1
…2
…3
…CLEAR!
I woke up with a jolt.
I was in a surgery room in a hospital. There were people looking at me. Smiling faces all around as people laughed and hugged each other.
"She pulled through!" one doctor said.
"Good work everybody!" said another.
I looked around. That's right. I remember now. I was here because I had another heart-attack, wasn't I? And yet, I escaped Death's grip again. How? How did I miss it a third time? I was in despair… despair, despair, despair, despair, despair…
Now, I guess I should have mentioned this was all in the past. Cut three days from that point, and I'm still hospitalized, recovering as better than ever. I saw people over by the side filming me for my documentary.
You know those lame documentaries you see on TLC about people with extreme disorders or tragedies? Well, I'm the butt of one. Rumiko Funabashi - the super magical heart attack girl who survived a now total three times. It's amazing, isn't it? It's like people are waiting for my death, only to present it to the world and make people cry. I was glad and all that I could inspire people, really. But this was terrible in all aspects. I didn't want to be Princess Fluff born with only one foot.
"Rumiko!" my mother called. "Come quick! Wait, no, you can't, I'll come to you!"
As bright as ever, I see.
"It's great news!" my mother said, running towards me at full speed.
"What is, mama?" I asked. I was forced to say mama in front of the cameras. Even as a sixteen year old girl, I needed to preserve my innocence.
"You've been invited!"
"Where, mama?"
"Hope's Peak Academy!"
I gasped. Hope's Peak Academy? For what?
"How, mama?" I asked, with an honest confusion rising from my voice.
"Hope's Peak Academy invited you to come because of your inspiring story!"
"You mean the story you developed?" I asked. "I didn't want to be filmed by all these freaks."
"This makes good money, darling," my mother said. "Anyways, as soon as you are released from the hospital, we're going to Hope's Peak Academy! Oh my, this is so cute! You even get your own title for attending there!"
A title? I've heard about it online.
All these talented kids that attend Hope's Peak Academy get some sort of Super Highschool Level Title. It's a way to recognize how the kids got into the school and appreciate them even more. But I didn't have any talent at all. I didn't do sports – heart wasn't good for that. I'm not that smart – can never catch a break to study because of all the cretins filming every time I take a shit. All I did was "inspire the world with my fantastic story about heartbreak and survival."
"What's my title?" I asked, suddenly serious, taking no mind to the cameramen.
"It's so cute!" my mom said, once again. "You're going to go as the Super Highschool Level Survivor!"
…
That's how I got here. Now you can cut fourteen days into the future. I'm standing outside of Hope's Peak Academy, dropped off by my mom. The cameramen are waiting outside.
"Back off, Kenny," I said. "You're way too close."
"M-my apologies," Kenny stuttered. His Japanese is as good as always.
I looked at the tall towering building that seemed to overshadow me. At first, I didn't think about going. I denied the request at the spot, and my mother was terrorized with shame. I didn't even want to go and compare myself to some others. It would be awful for me – I wasn't even good at making any friends because I didn't have to time to develop that important thing that adults call "social skills."
But suddenly… I felt a purge, of something.
I'm not sure what it was.
Because all my life, it's just been despair.
Despair of my disease. Despair of being followed and having my life paraded on by the media. So what was this feeling I didn't recognize? My biggest question was whether or not I'd find my answer by stepping into those intimidating doors.
"Well, go on, Rumiko!" Kenny said. "We're right behind you!"
I nodded to myself, and headed inside. I opened the doors, and stepped inside.
"You can do this, Rumiko," I said to myself. "Just make friends. Try. Have some… Hope."
Hope. How could I have hope when my whole life was swarmed with despair?
With that final disturbing thought, I opened my eyes, and everything began to turn foggy.
"W…what's going on?" I muttered to myself. "K-Kenny?"
It wasn't enough to say his name. I turned around, and looked at the outside. Kenny was getting further and further, and my vision blurred even more. What was going on?
What was happening?
Before I could answer myself… I fainted. My heart beat slower… and slower… and slower…
…
…
"Hey!"
…
"Are you awake?"
…
"You're not going to ignore me, are you?"
…
"Oh, fine. You're falling back asleep. I'll just… wait for you, then."
…
…
DANGANRONPA+…SYSTEMS OF DESPAIR
…
…
STARTING NOW. REBOOT… … 100%
GRAPHICS… …100%
MODELS… …100%
TOTAL PROGRESS… …100%
"Upupupu! Looks like the game is on now! How badly will these group of students despair? Ah! I could only wonder! Who's going to die? Who's going to live?"
(AN: Welcome to Danganronpa+! It's been only several days since I finished my other project, so starting this now seems extremely early, huh? Well, I've spent a lot of my free-time planning out the plotting of the story. I wing everything, so I write as I go along. But I have a good outline of what's going to happen and who's going to die.
That being said, if my finale or any of my trials resembles any other story on or whatever, it is purely coincidental. I do not mean to "copy," and I will not copy. This whole story was made purely off my imagination.
This probably won't be a daily update story like Danganronpa -1 was. First reason being that if I did make it daily, I'd rush myself, and the flow of the story (IMO) would get corrupted. Now my policy is if I get bored of writing, I take a break until my conviction turns back on. That way I can make the story as best as possible. Second reason is time, since school has started and I have not as much free-time as I did during the summer. That's not to say there won't be periods of time that I do bring daily updates, or hell, even two updates in a single day. If I have free-time, I might be writing, and I might get an excess of chapters.
In Danganronpa -1, I did a few things that I'm doing differently here. I made (ab)normal days into (n)everyday life, and I'm changing it back to (ab)normal days. Second, I'm not going to put (ab)normal days in one chapter like last time. One (ab)normal days will be spread across multiple chapters, similar to most other Fan-Fictions. Or it might not. Who knows. There are other tweaks as well.
Next chapter I'm going to start a "Soundtrack Addition." I bring the names of OST from the game and other anime I feel fits with the mood of the story. If you open up a number of tabs and search Youtube for that OST name, it'll come up. I'll explain it better on my next update, but it's going to be similar to Orenren's LP of SDR2 where he links to the soundtrack and you can play it while reading it if you please. If you don't, that's fine as well. The only difference is I can't link it because doesn't let me add hyperlinks or URLs (they get cut off) so reading the story with the Soundtrack Addition can be very troublesome.
I'm hopeful that this story will be better than DR -1, but of course I can't expect that much right now. Hope you enjoy!
P.S., this story does benefit off you reading DR -1, but since I don't want to force anyone who hasn't read DR -1, you are not required to read DR -1. Elements of DR -1 will be in this story, but for the main gist of the plot, you will not need to know DR -1 in depth.
That's about it. I hope you guys have fun reading it! I know I'll have fun writing it!)