"This wasn't supposed to happen."
Junko's back slid down the wall of her room as she clutched her pale pink hair. She could barely register any thought other than that.
"This wasn't supposed to happen."
Finally, she pulled her hands down, and her hair came with them. She removed her wig of giant pigtails, leaving only her comparatively unimpressive black bob haircut.
The mask of Junko had been removed, and only her true identity remained: Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier.
"Yeah, so you wanna explain what the hell that was all about?"
Monokuma had appeared in Mukuro's room, but his voice was not the usual cartoonishly shrill lilt. Rather, it was the voice of a teenage girl.
The real Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair and mastermind behind the killing game, was angrily chastising her sister.
Mukuro flinched. "I… I don't know… Junko, I-"
"Shut the fuck up!" Junko yelled, causing the usually stoic warrior to flinch. "My chance for some insanely delicious despair has been ruined thanks to that lucky bastard!"
While Junko held the title of THE Ultimate Despair, in truth the talent was shared between the two sisters, as well as countless others they had convinced to join their cause, and their cause was simple.
Everything is shit and nothing in life matters.
Mukuro lived by this mantra as she lived by her sister, with undying loyalty. She had killed dozens, even hundreds for this cause, and would happily give her own life for it.
Junko, on the other hand, embodied this cause. Despair was the only thing that kept her alive. It was her whole being, and it aroused her to no end when she or anyone else fell into complete and total despair.
"A chance at delicious despair?" Mukuro parroted.
"Well, what would be more despair-inducing than watching my loyal sister die by my own hand?" Junko explained flatly. "Even then, I could only imagine the despair you would have felt, being betrayed by the one person in this world you were most loyal to!" Her voice became shaky, as if she was trying to contain her… "glee."
"You were… gonna kill me…" Mukuro said, her mind a mess. "We agreed that you would just throw me in a hole, and I would monitor the killing game alongside you… but you were really planning to kill me?"
"Yeah, but that bastard just HAD to step in and be a hero!" Junko yelled. "I felt relieved that you were okay! RELIEVED! I've never been so insulted in my life!"
"So… what now?" Mukuro asked. "Do you still want to kill me?"
Junko thought for a second. "…Nah. It wouldn't be the same now that you know. And it would be too suspicious to carry out the original plan." She thought for a moment, symbolized by the Monokuma she was controlling scratching its head, before finally coming to a conclusion. "Simple. We'll just have you join the killing game as a regular participant."
Mukuro's eyes went wide. "Wait, how? I know too much already! Won't I have an unfair advantage?"
"Well, duh! You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Junko scoffed. "You'll be playing by some special rules, though."
Mukuro nodded, mulling it over.
"No telling anyone what's really going on," she started. "That includes anything about you, me, or Hope's Peak. From now on, you are Junko Enoshima, Ultimate Fashionista, and nothing more. And if I tell you to kill someone, you'll do it, no questions asked. And before you ask, yes, that does mean you'll be executed if they find you out."
Mukuro thought for a second. "…Ok. I'll do it. For the killing game."
The Monokuma jumped up and down with joy. "Perfect! Knew I could count on you!" he said, his voice returning to its high pitched modifier. "Well, I gotta go. We still have a Class Trial to organize, remember?"
And as quickly as he had appeared, Monokuma vanished once more, leaving Mukuro alone with her thoughts.
She had sworn her life to her sister's goal. They both knew that. The world was Junko's to do as she pleased, and that was to spread despair.
Their job was nearly done, and the killing game was the key to their final victory over hope. The game couldn't be compromised, no matter what.
So why was she doubting her sister now?
As she looped this thought process over and over in her head, the other students were wrapping up their investigation.
Ding dong bong bing!
"Attention everyone! Investigation time is now up! Please report to the red door in the main hall!"
Monokuma's face appeared on all the monitors in the school as he made the announcement.
Mukuro got up, putting the wig back on her head, and exited her room.
In the hall, she ran into Makoto.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, startled. "Uh, hi. Are you… doing ok?"
Mukuro stared at him for a second. "Um… yeah, I think I'm good."
They stared at each other awkwardly, until Makoto started off again.
"Thank you."
The words kind of… tumbled out of Mukuro's mouth, catching Makoto off guard.
"Uh… yeah. Don't mention it, Junko." And with that and an awkward yet genuine smile, he started off again.
Mukuro had to pull herself together. From now on, you are Junko.
…
The tension in the courtroom could be cut with a knife.
"Isn't that right… Leon Kuwata!?"
Makoto, a fire in his eyes, was pointing a strong finger right at the Ultimate Baseball Star. With the help of Kyoko, Makoto was able to prove his innocence, and they had slowly but surely put all the clues together, and had proven that Sayaka had actually invited Leon to Makoto's room, where she had attempted to kill him. After they fought, breaking Sayaka's wrist in the process, she had escaped to the bathroom, where Leon dismantled the lock and stabbed her with a kitchen knife, and the message she wrote in her own blood on the wall behind her, 11037, was in fact the name of her killer, LEON.
Leon was pale with shock. He couldn't deny his guilt any longer.
"Well, it seems we've all come to a conclusion," Monokuma spoke up. "Well, everyone, it's the moment you've all been waiting for! Voting Time!"
With no words spoken between any of them, they all punched their votes on the consoles in front of them.
A slot machine behind Monokuma with the words VOTING TIME shining in big neon letters appeared. The lever pulled down, and the three wheels all cycled through each student's face, until they all landed on Leon. Coins poured out of the slot machine as confetti blasted and victorious music played.
"You're all 100% correct! The one who killed the Ultimate Idol Singer, Sayaka Maizono, was… the Ultimate Baseball Star, Leon Kuwata!"
Leon was struggling to stand, his pale, sweaty hands gripping his podium for support. "It… it wasn't my fault… she was trying to kill me, man… it was… it was self-defense!"
No one could bear to look at him.
"Well, it's time for the best part! Leon has disturbed our peaceful school lives, so now it's time for his punishment!"
"Wait…" Hina said, wide-eyed. "You don't mean…"
"Yep! Execution!" Monokuma yelled, before giving a hearty "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Please…" Leon choked back a sob. "I'm begging you! DON'T DO THIS!" He ran to the wall behind him, clawing and punching in vain to break it down. "GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"
"Now, I've prepared a very special punishment!"
"PLEASE! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!"
"Let's go! It's… PUNISHMENT TIME!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Leon let out one last scream as tears and snot covered his face.
Monokuma produced a hammer, and lightly tapped the big red button in front of him.
Leon Kuwata has been found guilty.
Time for the punishment!
Leon could hardly breathe. He could feel the stares of his fellow students piercing his entire body. He opened his mouth to scream, but before any sound could come forth, he felt a metal clamp close itself around his neck. He grabbed it, trying desperately to tear it off, until he felt his feet leave the ground, and the courtroom rapidly get farther and farther away as his body was dragged through a hallway.
He finally saw where he was going: a rusty room, adorned only with a pole and a scoreboard he frequently saw in his many games playing baseball. Normally, he would see his team and whatever school they would inevitably beat written on the board, but this time, all that was written was two names: Leon, and Monokuma.
His body slammed against the pole, and more metal clamps closed around him, pinning his wrists to his chest and denying him any possibility of escape. However, he was more focused on what appeared from the floor in front of him: a fence, behind which the others were staring in fear, and in front of the fence stood a pitching machine, and next to it, Monokuma, wearing a baseball cap and brandishing a bat.
ULTIMATE BASEBALL STAR'S EXECUTION: THE 1000 BLOWS
The first ball slammed into Leon's stomach, giving him time to writhe in pain before firing the second shot at his chest. The balls began firing rapidly, shooting him in the legs, face, chest, and all around as it tilted and spun all around him. His entire body ached and stung with each blow, and the shots kept coming with no chance for relief.
In what he knew were his final moments, time seemed to slow for Leon. He could count how many baseballs were coming toward him. He could count how many stitches were on each one. He could see the sweat, fear, sorrow, and guilt in his classmate's eyes.
The machine finally stopped firing, cooling down and retracting back into the floor.
The thirteen remaining students could only stare at the scene in front of them, their faces covered in terror and sweat.
Leon's left arm had been knocked out of the harness, leaving it to dangle along his side. His head lay limp, his entire body covered in bruises and blood. All around him were countless baseballs, each covered in blood and bits of torn flesh.
Everyone stared in horror at the scene in front of them as Monokuma laughed. "Three strikes, Leon's out of here!"
Mukuro was appalled. She was used to death, having killed many enemies before, but this was crueler than anything she'd ever done.
"This… this is just a game to you?" Makoto said softly. "Our lives… they're not just things for you to toy with like some kind of god!"
"Like you know anything!" Monokuma snapped. "Your lives are worth nothing now. That is, unless you've got the guts to try and get out of here."
"Come on… let's go." Kyoko stepped out of the crowd, back toward the elevator that had brought them down. "There's nothing left for us here."
The students trickled out of the room, leaving Mukuro alone to stare at her former classmate's body.
"This is my life now," she quietly said to herself. "Either I can win… or I'll die in the name of despair."
Author's note: Welp, finally out of what I'm considering the "prologue" of A Single Life Spared. I'm super excited to get this new story underway. I decided not to include the rest of the trial in detail since aside from Mukuro being there, nothing had changed, but I did want to write out the execution to give an example of how the rest of the punishments will be formatted. Also, you can't NOT include such an iconic scene from the game. The next chapter probably won't have the next murder, but I do want to do some juicy plot stuff, so you'll have to wait and see who's gonna be next to die. See ya!
Students remaining: 13
Dead: Sayaka Maizono, Leon Kuwata.