Authors Note: So I wanted to get back into the swing of writing since I'd lost my motivation for the past few months, don't know how long it'll take to return to my other stories since my energy for writing in those fandoms is completely zapped, but this is a story I've been planning for a very long time (Before V3 even, though I've had to make extensive changes to the original plan because of all that V3 gave us).
That is I've spent lots and lots of time planning out the murders, the investigations and trials. So even though this will be my first Danganronpa fic (and a Fangan Ronpa of all things!) I hope you guys can still enjoy it. If I get something wrong, feel free to point it out!
The warm air tickled Shio's face as she slowly came to, a breeze brushed against her skin and she slowly opened her eyes to stare up at the clear blue sky above her, white clouds gently rolling by above. The day was nice, beautiful even.
Pushing herself up to sit, Shio rubbed some sleep from her eye and swiveled her head about to look at her surroundings. The dorms looking as pristine as ever, a few students talking by picnic tables and a few were walking towards the university centers building. If things were different, she would have just shaken it off as a regular day at a college as freshman. Though a problem with that was she was still in high school, so it was hardly regular.
Shio turned her head to look forward, a frown forming on her face as she stared up at the towering metal wall that left her and the others trapped on this campus.
Nothing about this day was regular, nothing about this situation was regular.
One week ago Shio had been preparing for a violin recital, something she enjoyed greatly, it was her talent after all. Six days ago she woke up on this enclosed campus with fifteen other students. Six days ago she found she was forced to participate in a killing game forced upon them by a twisted black and white bear.
Of course that caused strife among the students forced here and it was no easy task for Shio to get the others to calm down and worth together. Though she wouldn't really call it working together for some as much as it was a tolerance and uneasy peace. Still, she wasn't sure how it happened, but she had become the de facto leader of the group after taking charge on the first day when everyone else was in a confused and scared mess.
It wasn't a role that Shio wanted to take, but if it meant she could prevent someone from being killed like Monokuma wanted, then she'd gladly take the reins and try to keep everyone safe.
Her classmates were… oddballs, some of them. But, Shio was sure that they could get along and be friends. It might be hard with some, but she had hope and determination on her side! She even already had a few she could consider as a friend.
Daichi Akemi in particular she thought as she spotted his messy blue hair and red neckerchief as he headed out of the door to the dining area of the university center. Unlike the others, who's talent they knew and remembered, Daichi seemed unable to remember his which painted him with some suspicion early on. Some of the others refused to trust him simply because he couldn't tell them what his talent was, but Shio had been able to dissuade the mistrust, or at least get them to keep it to themselves. Even Shio remembered her talent with the violin. The two just gravitated naturally to each other on the first day, working to explore what parts they could together of their prison, getting to know the others, she liked to think that her and Daichi made a pretty good team.
And she wanted to help him, help him remember his talent and help him find his confidence. The guy always looked like he was about to jump out of his skin and she could only imagine that if the tension rose in their situation, it would not affect him well. He was a ball of anxiety and she wanted to help keep him grounded.
There were others of course. Yuu Kobayashi was sweet, she didn't seem to hold any sort of ill will towards anyone and Izumi was a force of energy and cheer. Even among the guys, Hayato Himura, though he kept to himself, seemed genuine, he had no interest in participating in a game where they killed each other and Takahiko Saikawa made it clear that he wasn't afraid to give a black eye to anyone who even tried. The others, she couldn't say for sure, she didn't want to distrust her friends, but she couldn't say she knew what went on in their heads.
But she knew that they could work together. It might be hard, it'd take some work, but Shio was confident that they could work together and put a stop to this horrible game they had been put in.
She'd even begun to notice that some had even began moving towards each other, developing little pairs and groups of their own, and that pleased her. She rarely saw Takahiko and Yuu separate, for example, and she often saw Aito lingering near them like he wanted to join but wanted to keep a distance at the same time. Even Hikaru and Kasumi tended to stick near one another, and of course there was herself and Daichi. It was nice to see the others were making their own friendships and teams, and not isolating themselves from the others.
What really worried her though, wasn't just the fact that they were trapped in this campus and being told they have to kill each other to get out. It was the crucial piece of all of this that no one else seemed to remember, the part that made this so much worse than what it already was, the similarity to-
"Uehara-san," Shio looked up, her train of thought broken, to see Daichi had reached her and gave him a smile. He didn't meet her eyes, running a hand through his messy blue locks and keeping his other in the pocket of his jacket. "Do you want to head to the meeting spot? It's about time we all get together."
The meeting spot. It was nothing more than an outdoor seating area a little off to the side with a stone bench in a U shape. Shio had suggested that they keep some form of regularity in their lives while here, and among the ideas had been a daily meeting to discuss anything they had discovered or any problems they found. Its purpose was to try and strengthen bonds among each other while also working to find ways out of this prison.
They'd meet up every day at five, right before dinner, and so far over the two days it seemed to be working well enough. Only Mitsuru complained about it, but Shio had a feeling Mitsuru would complain about everything if given the chance.
But she kept smiling as she pushed herself up, brushing some black locks of hair behind her ear, "It's that time already? I guess I lost track of time, thanks for reminding me," she hadn't actually forgotten, she'd been well aware of the time, but the gratitude made Daichi feel better so she'd give it to him. "Let's get going, Akemi-kun, it'd be awkward if we were late."
He didn't say much, but smiled and walked at her side as they made their way across the grass to the area just hidden behind a corner of the dorm.
There were a few already there.
Aito Shigaraki was sitting on one end of the stone bench, his white hair as messy as always with the heavy bags under his eyes and disheveled clothes. He was the Ultimate Forensic Pathologist, and from what Shio understood that meant he studied dead bodies. She hated to admit it, but Aito kind of creeped her out. Sometimes he looked unhinged and he made it clear that if someone died he'd love to take a look at their insides.
On the other side of the spectrum was Izumi Hayasha. Despite earning her talent for being a thief, she wasn't a bad person as far as Shio could tell, if she looked past the whole being an actual criminal thing. When Mitsuru challenged her on the first day for "trying to control them" or something, Izumi stepped in and backed Shio up with how she was the only one trying to do something other than panic while Mitsuru was doing nothing. She even promised not to steal anything from the other students, unless they did something to make her mad, and so far she'd been trustworthy. Daichi seemed to like her well enough, too.
"Hello, Hayasha-san, Shigaraki-kun," Shio greeted with a smile as she took a seat at the bench, the stone felt warm against the bright sun. Daichi took a seat beside her, situating himself between herself and Shigaraki, as though the lanky individual would try and attack her. She knew that he distrusted Aito and a part of her wanted to chastise him for not having faith in their friends, but chose to bite her tongue. It'd do no good to draw attention to him right now when Aito didn't seem to notice or care.
He didn't even respond to her greeting with more than a small hum as he fiddled with mangling the flower in his hand.
Izumi on the other hand smiled brightly and leaned over the stone bench, "Aah~! Shio-chan, it's so nice to see you again, it's a beautiful day today, isn't it? Though these past few ones have been just lovely as well. Not nearly as lovely as you, though," she smiled and it was brighter than the sun. "And Daichi-kun, you're looking as handsome as ever, though I still think it'd be nice of you if you'd give me your neckerchief, the warehouse in the campus doesn't have one like that."
Daichi blushed and didn't look at her but gripped the red fabric around his neck, "Sorry, Hayasha-san, but, like I said before I'm not giving it up."
The thief just giggled and waved it off. Shio was happy to see her in such good spirits like usual, she'd be worried if Izumi suddenly became solemn.
Gradually the other students started filtering in, some on their own and some in groups of two or three until all sixteen were seated and the meeting was ready to commence.
Beside Izumi sat Hayato Himura the survivalist, and beside him was Ren Taikiyo an actor. The screenwriter, Yuu Kobayashi sat between him and Takahiko Saikawa, a Taekwondo champion. Goro Kobe, an obnoxious Go player was between Takahiko and herself while Daichi was stuck sitting next to the figure skater herself, Mitsuru Kita.
From there it went to Hikaru Yoshii the residential adrenaline junkie and racer, and Kasumi Sasaki, a graceful dancer. Eisuke Watanabe, the Ultimate Archer sat next to her, and next to Eisuke was Tsubasa Watanabe the basketball player and then Kousuke Nakamura, the photographic memory. Taiyou Adachi sat between Kousuke and Aito, being the only one to not disclose his talent but rather keep saying he had a different talent whenever asked.
There was some murmuring among the group and Shio brought her hands together in a clap to quiet down the chatter and start the meeting. Monokuma had begun breathing down their necks lately about no one being killed, they needed to come up with a plan.
"By the sounds of things, no one's found anything new," Shio began which was followed by a few disgruntled mutters and sly remarks tossed about by her classmates. But she clapped her hands again to bring attention back to herself. "That's fine, that's fine, we're still trying so that's what matters."
There was a loud groan and she turned to look at Goro. "Some are trying harder than others, but not like that matters," he responded, his eyes on Mitsuru.
The figure skater let out an offended gasp, "What are you insinuating?" she demanded.
"Exactly what it sounds like."
"Mitsuru, everyone is putting in more effort than you are," Kousuke snipped, his eyes narrowed at her, "last I checked, all you've been doing since we got here was eat in the dining room and complain. I don't think you have a right to be insulted when someone calls you out on it."
"I would have thought that as someone from such a rich and fancy home as yours that you'd know; some people are meant to work while others are meant to sit back while others do the work for them," Mitsuru retorted, crossing her arms over her chest, "Obviously I was not born into this world to do menial labor and hard work like the rest of these bums. But I guess your upbringing wasn't nearly as proper if you'd let yourself fall to there level."
"Of maybe I'd like to get out of here more than I'd like to hang onto egotistical pride like a certain pretentious brat."
"Why you," Mitsuru curled back a lip, "I have half a mind to slap you right now."
Taiyou began laughing as he leaned forward to watch, "Oooh~! Are we gonna get to see some rich brats duke it out?" he asked loudly, a wide grin slapped across his face, "Ten monocoins on Mitsuru-chan!"
"Please! Q-tip can take her, hands down," Hikaru shot back, "Twenty that he wins !"
"Excuse me? Who are you calling a q-tip?" Kousuke snapped, almost rising from his seat, his attention moved from Mitsuru to Hikaru. A few snickers and cackles turned into laughter from multiple people and the arguing started to spread.
So the whole everyone being friends was clearly still in the works.
Trying to dissolve the situation quickly and get things back on track, Shio raised her voice, "Guys? Guys!" she yelled over the bickering, they gradually quieted back down to look at her. "Please guys, we're friends here, we don't need to be arguing when we need to stick together, right? How do you expect us to take on Monokuma if we start arguing so easily?"
A few of the students murmured but no one really spoke up, all looking at the ground or away from Shio, some bitter and others guilty.
Trying to raise the mood, Shio smiled at them all again. "Even though it's not going to help us find an exit out of here, I was thinking we could do more things as a group than just the daily meeting," she said, fanning her fingers out and tapping them against each other. "Just something to help us grow closer, help keep a unity among the groups." It was vital to forge a strong bond with everyone, strong enough that no matter what Monokuma might throw their way, it won't cause them to betray one another.
"Eh?" Taiyou asked, raising a brow, "What sort of activities did you have in mind, my dear Shio-chan? Don't tell me you want us to scrapbook together, or sit around a campfire singing songs, I don't know if I could handle that much friendship!"
"Hey, come on the campfire sounds pretty fun if we throw in some smores," Ren snickered harmlessly, sticking his tongue out a little so that the metal stud at the tip peeked out past his teeth.
So maybe she shouldn't bring up that digging up a pit for a campfire and spend some time at night together was one of her ideas. Didn't seem like the group was going to take that one seriously right now so she'd push it off to a later date.
"I don't know about that, but, we do have a lot of space outside," Shio said as she began thinking, "we could find some kind of game to play. The gym has lots of sports equipment in there, so we could find something that would let everyone play in there."
Tsubasa raised her hand after Shio said that, "There's a lot of baseball gloves and balls in the gym closet, as well as plenty of baseballs and a few bats. There's also some flags if we want to play capture the flag, and a few footballs, as well as the American ones," she said and then scratched her cheek, "though I don't know the rules to that one."
"That's fine," Shio grinned as she looked at the athlete, "I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised you remember everything that's in there." Tsubasa blushed when she said that and Shio took that as a cue to turn to the others again, "Even if we don't want to get dirty playing a sport, between the school store and the warehouse, I'm sure there's plenty we can do together."
Hayato gave a small laugh from his end of the bench, "You sure are intent on keeping us as a united group, aren't you, Uehara-san?" it was less of a question and he had a smile as he said it, but it looked tired.
She didn't falter and with a feeling of determination in her gut, Shio nodded her head. "Of course I am, Himura-kun. You guys are all my friends, so I'm going to do everything I can to keep us all alive," the words were genuine. Even though she only knew the group for a few days, she cared about them like she knew them for longer. They were her friends, even if they didn't feel the same, and she wanted to keep her friends safe.
What was so wrong about that?
But as soon as she finished speaking, someone began gagging from behind her, a fake retching noise in response to her desire for all to survive. "Uuuugh! How boring!"
She felt a chill run over her, and beside her she saw Daichi go pale in the face at the familiar, overly cheerful voice. He wasn't the only one, others had gone pale, while some went red in the face from anger, heads swiveling to stare at the intruder.
With a walk that was more of a waddle, Monokuma marched around until he was right in front of the group, staring at them with his mismatched eyes and ever present grin. "All this talk of unity, bonds, friends and sticking together, ooooh! I can feel my stomach churning. You're going to make me sick at this rate!"
"Why should we care about your health?" Takahiko asked dryly, eyes narrowed at the robot. "You don't seem too concerned with our wellbeing, so why should we be with yours?"
"Yeowch, you cut me with those harsh words," the bear complained, an air of gloom surrounding him, but it was gone as quick as it appeared. "But that's not what I'm here for, not at all! My health can wait because I'm sure that your talk of friendship and teamwork will be ending soon!"
Shio stood up, hands on her hips in a defiant stance as she stared down at the bear, "You're wrong, we're not going to stop working together just because you want it," she said firmly. She was the leader of this group, she had to make sure she always stood up against Monokuma, here was no different. "Why are you here if it wasn't to complain? If it's to tell us to kill each other, we're still not going to play your twisted game."
But the bear let out a long sigh, "Man you are no fun, no fun at all," he whined. "But you're right. As things are now, there's no way you guys will start the killing game, and that's just so boring. So I had to think long and hard, I skipped sleeping last night just to come up with this idea, you know?"
"What idea?" Kasumi asked from where she sat, playing with the sleeves of her shirt, Shio noted they were becoming increasingly more frayed as her nails picked at the strands.
Monokuma let out a maniacal laugh as he stared at them all good and hard. "I was thinking, and thinking, and thinking, and then it hit me! You guys have the place, the tools, the possible victims, but no reason!" he exclaimed. "Now, I would have thought the Graduation rule would have been reason enough; kill someone to get out of here, but nope! You guys are pickier than that!"
A reason? "Are you talking about a motive or something?" Shio asked, feeling her heart beating louder in her chest. Did he come out all this way to give them something to motivate each other to kill? Whatever he was going to throw at them, it wasn't going to work. They weren't that easy, they were stronger than him and wouldn't fall for the devil's temptation like he wanted them too.
"Oooh, that's exactly what it is," Monokuma sang, "I thought it was about time to give you all a motive!"
