Disclaimer: Danganronpa belongs to Spike Chunsoftand their respective associates. I do not own any of Danganronpa's characters or other creations.
Author Note: Alright, it's time for the finale of the first Chapter. Outside of the perusal response that I have I don't really have much else to say other than to stick around at the end for additional comments. Enjoy the new part.
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doomqwer: Glad you liked it. I just hope the trial and execution was done with the intended impact.
Despair. That's was the emotion that had completely overtaken the room as everyone had witnessed Oogami's execution. Not a single person was unscathed by the despair that had swallowed the room.
"EXTREMEEE! I'm drowning in adrenaline!" Monokuma boisterously announced.
Everyone had different reactions to the brutal execution. There were folks like Asahina, Fujisaki and Fukawa who were in tears, openly voicing their despair. Others like Kirigiri, Celes and Ikusaba who despite trying their best to maintain their stoic appearances, were either pale or showing other signs of distress.
As for Kuramoto, he was shaking. While he was also trying his best to stay strong, he just couldn't.
"Dammit, I know it was the right choice. I know what would have been happened if we didn't vote for her. But, it doesn't make me feel any better that someone had died right in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it. I feel so powerless."
"Kuramoto-kun, are you okay?"
Kuramoto was so consumed in his guilt that the sudden contact on his shoulder and voice had taken him completely by surprise. He turned around and found that it was Ikusaba who had called to him with a look of concern of her face.
"Yeah, I'm just a bit shaken up is all." Kuramoto replied, still trying to maintain his composure.
"That's understandable. I just want to let you know I'm here if you need to talk about it."
"Ok and thanks Ikusaba-chan." Kuramoto said back, giving her a small smile.
"Sheez! You guys are still standing there!?" Monokuma said. "The trial is over, the execution is done! What, are you waiting for a permission slip to leave or something ? Oh, but before you guys go, I took care of the crime scene and the bloody hallway, so you guys don't need to worry about that body or blood rotting away. It would be quite a health problem if nothing was done about that!"
With that last bit, Monokuma left the scene. His words were enough to get everyone out of their trance.
"We should get going." Kirigiri suggested. "We've dealt with a lot today and would be a good idea to call it day."
"Hold up." Kuramoto interjected. "We still have one last matter to take care of." His gaze turned to Maizono. "Have you guys forgotten? There were two crimes that occurred last night, not just one. Judgement still needs to occur for the other criminal."
"I agree!" Ishimaru declared. "Order cannot be maintained unless she is brought to justice!"
"But what can we do?" Fujisaki asked. "It's not like we can kill her even if we wanted to and we can't exactly put chains on her."
"I'll let you guys decide for yourselves. I'm gonna head back upstairs." Kuramoto said as he began to walk towards the elevator.
"What are you doing?" Kirigiri asks. "Didn't you just said that Maizono-san needed to be judged for her crime?"
"I did." Kuramoto answered. "However, it's also important that she is judged fairly. Since I was the one that caught in the midst of her act, I'm not in a position where I can judge her fairly."
"Surely, you must have some ideas on how to deal with her!" Ishimaru said.
"I do. However, they are very unpleasant ideas. They don't involve killing, of course. But the punishments in question are, shall we say, of a permanent nature. Are you sure you guys still want to know what my ideas are?" Kuramoto responded.
All but a few grew pale at the implications of Kuramoto suggestion. However, Celes, Fukawa and Ikusaba did raise their hands, presumably, want to hear his ideas. Seeing the lack of support, he simply replied.
"That's what I thought. I'll be in the dining hall if you guys need me."
With that, the elevator had closed and was heading back up to the school.
The remaining students their heads to Maizono.
"I see no real reason to discuss this, the culprit has been revealed. I'd say we just punish her and be done with it." Celes said in a monotone manner.
"Wow, That's pretty damn cold." Oowada replied.
"She has a point." Togami chimed in. "Let's make sure the dangerous thing is dealt with and let's leave this place."
Quite a few people flinched at the cold hearted remarks Celes and Togami had tossed. It was as though they didn't care in the slightest about what happened to the idol.
"That's a bit harsh…" Kuwata pointed out.
"Then, what you do suggest? Togami barked, at his wits end.
"W-Well," Kuwata stumbled being put on the spot. "We never figured out why she did what she did. It wouldn't fair to do anything to her until we figure that out."
The others were surprised by his answer. He was right, the reasoning behind Maizono's decision hadn't been revealed by either Monokuma or Kuramoto. Even Maizono was slightly surprised by his answer, she assumed no one would care enough to want to know about her reasoning.
"He's right! She never revealed the contents of her video. By discussing that, it would help alleviate any misunderstanding of her actions and clear the air with her!" Ishimaru jumped in, taking advantage of the opening presented.
Most seemed to agree with both Ishimaru's and Kuwata's sentiments. Those who disagreed understood that they were outnumbered and decided to stay quiet for the time being.
Maizono was still as quiet as an abandoned street. Her head was still bowed, hair covered her eyes, making it harder for the others to read her. She finally decided to speak up.
"Why does that matter? It's not like it will change anything." she said in tone that was just as, if not even colder than Celes and Togami.
"Maizono-chan...?" Asahina said, shocked by the coldness in her voice.
No one had expected to act in such a cold manner. Heck, most weren't even sure as to how to react, especially since her motive was still up the air and Maizono didn't seem like she would be willing to share that information. But then, someone put forth an unexpected guess.
"Maybe it has something to do with her band?" Kuwata suggested.
"!" Maizono had immediately flinched at his guess. Nearly everyone had caught that and took that Kuwata was right.
"H-How did you know that!?" Maizono asked, schoked.
"Well...based on what I heard from you when speaking to Naegi-kun and what I've heard from you when we have talked, you seemed to talk about your band mates with high reverence. So, I assumed you hold them at a level similar to family. I...kinda understand that feeling." Kuwata explained.
"So, in order to protect them, that's why tried to kill Naegi-kun." Kirigiri concluded.
It hit very close to home. Mentioning her band was enough to break her mask. The fear that everything she spent years working for was in vain. The sheer guilt of the pain she had put Naegi through and the added stress of her classmates' eyes of judgement, of top of everything that just happened. It was all too much for Maizono to bear. The emotions she tried to hold back finally broke through like a waterfall breaking through a dam as the stream of tears began to fall.
"I...just wanted to make sure they were still alive. I...wanted to to be sure...that everything that we did...wasn't for nothing." Maizono muttered.
The others students could easily see that see was really torn up from her actions, a lot more than most were expecting.
"I still don't see why we are wasting our time with this." Togami said, shifting his glasses. "She even said it herself, it won't change anything. She still betrayed us."
"That may be true." Kirigiri said. "It still wouldn't be fair to make a call as to what to do with her without hearing her end of the story. Otherwise, we wouldn't be any better than Monokuma."
"Hmph." Togami scoffed. "No matter, I'd say we isolate her and keep her bound in her room until further notice."
"S-She should have b-been e-executed along with that O-Ogre." Fukawa stuttered out.
"Fuwaka-san! That's uncalled for!" Asahina shouted angrily.
"W-What!? I-I'm just t-thinking about my own s-survival. Besides, i-it's not like you can p-prove that she's just m-making this all up." Fukawa retorted.
Fukawa did have a point and unfortunately, that's all it took for the others to begin to doubt the authenticity of her words and emotions. She was an idol after all and consequently was really good at acting, it wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that could be falsifying her emotions to manipulate the others.
"What the hell is the is matter with you guys!? Have you all completely forgotten about the motives Monokuma gave us!?" Kuwata said, his words cutting straight through the darkened atmosphere. "Those she cared about, heck, those that all of us cared about were shown to be in jeopardy! Are seriously going to tell me that none of you were at least considering killing someone if that meant that their lives would be secured!?"
Kuwata's words, just like Fuwaka's also hit home. None of them could say truthfully with conviction the thought hadn't at least crossed their minds at some point.
Maizono just stared in awe as this stranger she had never met until a few days ago was so readily willing to defend her despite what she had done.
"Any of us could have possibly snapped due to the pressure and desire to leave. Heck, Kuramoto-kun being one of the smartest ones here said that himself. Any one us could have received a video similar to Oogami-san's and been forced to kill lest we watch someone we care about die."
Once more, Kuwata words had hit a strong point. No one could really form much of a counterattack since there was a decent amount of truth behind his words.
"I think we should have at least two people keep constant watch on her, if necessary, ensure that her door remains locked at night, isolation won't do her any good."
"Kuwata-san is right." Ikusaba agreed, to everyone's surprise. "There's a reason why solitary confinement is regarded as a method of torture. I, personally am angry for Maizono-san did to Naegi-kun and I don't know if I really could let it go, but when I think about it, Naegi-kun would probably want to give her a second chance. She won't any have realistic opportunities to redeem herself if we cut her off from everyone. I agree with Kuwata-san's decision."
"I also agree!" Ishimaru spoke up. "It would be good if she would still attend the morning meetings anyway to ensure she stays up to date with the transpiring events. We can at least see to it that see cannot do any harm by having multiple people keep watch of her and if she's uncooperative, then we'll take more stringent measures!"
"I don't really have any issues with the suggestion." Yamada brought up. "But how are we supposed to ensure that Master Sayaka Maizono stays within her room at night?"
"When Kuramoto-san brought myself and the others to his room to reveal Maizono-san presence, he had a chair wedged with the door handle. Sometime like that could possibly work." Fujisaki recalled.
"Yeah, that's right. This will work out just fine!" Asahina jumped in.
"It would appear that we have a majority in favor of Kuwata-san's suggestion." Kirigiri stated. "The question now is who will watch over Maizono-san?"
"I'll do it. I did suggest the idea, after all." Kuwata volunteered.
"I'll watch over as well. I don't think I can trust anyone else with this for the time being." Asahina said.
"Ok, so Kuwata-san and Asahina-san will guard her for the time being. We'll discuss the details and any adjustments to this arrangement tomorrow, presuming no one has any objections to this." Kirigiri summarized.
With dead silence filling the room, signaling that no one had a rebuttal. Kirigiri began to make her way towards the elevator with the rest of her classmates following suite.
The elevator ride was filled with silence barring a single, barely audible whisper from Maizono.
"Thank you guys...Thank you guys so much."
Upon exiting the elevator, Yamada, Fukawa, Celes and Togami decided to head back to their rooms. The rest went to cafeteria, remembering that Kuramoto said that he would be there if anyone needed him.
Upon entering the cafeteria, they found both Kuramoto and Naegi present. In addition, it looked like a makeshift shrine was made for Oogami and Hagakure using some cloth, a few books, candles and a nametag for both students.
"I saw that what Monokuma said earlier about the bodies being removed was true." Kuramoto said as they had entered.
"I figured that this was the least I could do for them." Kuramoto then began to light the candles.
Everyone began to gather around the shrine and everyone started to release the emotions of grief that they had been forced to push aside for survival's sake. Asahina, understandably, was the worst off when compared to everyone else. Oowada was doing his best to try and comfort her. The others were also in tears or were otherwise grieving in their own way.
Kuramoto was behind most of the other students, the hearing of the voices of grief, brought back the emotions he felt just after Oogami died. He was still trying to keep himself together, but it was become increasingly harder to do so.
Just when he felt like he was going to lose total control of his emotions, a hand had touched his.
"You don't have to worry about holding yourself back." Kuramoto turned to see who that was notice that it was Ikusaba who had, once more, come to his aid.
"I can tell you've been trying hard to put forth a strong front. Please, let me in. I know something has been eating at you ever since Oogami died; I want to be able to help you."
Kuramoto wasn't entirely sure if it was simply the offer for her to listen to his troubles or that he understood that she would probably understand the pain of loss better than anyone here. It didn't matter to him, he decided to tell her about his grief.
"I know that there was nothing I could have done about what happened and I know I made the right choice by condemning Oogami-san. Even so, I feel absolutely horrible that someone had died right in front of me and there was nothing that I could have done to prevent it."
"I know exactly how you feel. A feeling of powerlessness as those around you die. It's a feeling that I'm all to familiar with. Just remember that you may be considered as a leader to us, you are not alone in this."
Kuramoto felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders when Ikusaba said her piece.
"Thank you, Ikusaba-chan."
The two of them continued to stay together for a little while. At this point, Celes, Fukawa and Yamada had entered the cafeteria, they individually decided it would be best to give those in mourning some space and stood by silently. While he didn't mind at all, Kuramoto eventually decided he should point it out.
"Ikusaba-chan, you do realize you're still holding on to my hand, right?"
The thought must not have occurred to her because as soon as he pointed that out, she let go and was now blushing.
"Sorry, I realize that.."
"It's ok, I don't mind."
"As much as I would like to stay together, I think it would it be best if I checked on the others."
"You ok, Asahina-san?"
Oowada was looking over Asahina as she was staring solemnly at Oogami's name tag.
"No, I'm not." Asahina simply said. "I know I said I would be strong, but...I don't know what to do."
"..."
"I've never been all that good at comforting others. But, I reckon I got an idea of what yer going through." Oowada said. "I felt the same way when my brother died."
"Huh? Your brother died?" Asahina said, surprised. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Much like Oogami-san did, he left me with one last promise right before he had died."
"I guess you say it motivated me to keep going, to keep that promise."
"..."
"Sakura-chan wouldn't want me to stay depressed forever."
"Thank you, Oowada-kun. I think I now know what I need to do."
"Yeah, no problem." Oowada said, scratching the back of his head."
"Kuwata-kun, why did you do that?"
Maizono was with Kuwata per the agreement and she decided to confront him about the trial's aftermath.
"What do you mean, Maizono-san?"
"Why did you defend me that?"
"They were about to make an already bad situation worse. I couldn't just stand around and let that happen, especially not after you looked when the truth was revealed."
"Besides, it's like I said at the trial. I somewhat understand where you are coming from. I may not be idol like you, but I do have a cousin that I've looked after like a little sister. I was never close to any other family members and I really didn't have any real friends at school, so she's all I had for years."
This revelation shocked Maizono. He didn't seem like the type that would have so little as far as relationships. She expected him to be more a typical jock type of person.
"You seemed surprised. Most of the people that ever bothered to get close to me is only due to my skills in baseball. It didn't matter if it was friends or even trying to find a girlfriend, they all cared about my baseball talent and never who I really was. That's why I decided to go to this school to begin with. To get away from that, to finally pursue something that I wanted to, you know."
If Kuwata wasn't surprising Maizono before, he was now. His story reminded her a lot of her own. Not having many people to connect to, others only seeing your talent and not who you are. It resonated with her so much, he truly understood her a lot more than she gave him credit for.
"I...never thought I would find someone outside of my band mates that would understand so well."
Maizono pulled Kuwata into a hug.
"Thank you so much, Kuwata-kun!"
"Uh..yeah, it's no problem at all." Kuwata not being really sure what to do, just decided to return the hug. It felt nice for the two of them, to have someone else outside of their usual circle of people.
"There's one last thing that I want to do before I turn for tonight." Maizono said.
She then her head towards Naegi, who was currently talking with Kirigiri.
"Are you sure, Naegi-kun?" Kirigiri asked.
"Yes, I'm certain of it. I will take Kuramoto's advice and be more careful, but at the same time, I can't let a single lapse of judgement of someone being put into a corner completely alter my perspective of someone."
"..."
"You really are a lot stronger of a person than what I gave you credit for." Kirigiri said, giving Naegi a small smile.
"Umm...Naegi-kun?"
Naegi turned to face the direction from where the voice came from to find Maizono was there.
"I just wanted to say…" Maizono started.
Naegi decided to hold his hand out to signal here to stop.
"There is something that I need to say first." Naegi stated.
"You attempting to kill me did hurt, in more ways than one. In truth, I honestly don't know if I really will be able to just forget about and be able to interact with you as though it never happened."
Maizono lowered her head. She was afraid that it would turn out like this. She didn't expect that Naegi would forgive her and she would have to live with that.
"However, I won't allow your actions that were done out of desperation, done because of Monokuma putting us through this horrible situation, to overshadow everything that I have learned about you. I still want to believe that you are better than what you have shown, so I have decided to give you another chance." Naegi finished.
Maizono's eyes had widen as Naegi finished his piece. Maizono could honestly not believe just how fortunate she was. She honestly thought that after the murder attempt, even if she didn't up dying, there's no way anyone would have given her the time of day. After all, in her career field, she learned that the world very rarely ever gives you second chances. So, it shouldn't a surprise to anyone that she hugged him as well, showering him with phrases of gratitude and apologies. As soon as she let him, go someone else decided to step into the conversation.
"How curious. It seems that things played out better than what I expected."
All four of them turned to find Kuramoto was now among them.
"Are you here to belittle her or cause her harm?" Kuwata said, stepping up to him. "If so, you can forget about it. I'll-"
"Calm down, Kuwata-san." Kuramoto interjected. "I let you guys decide for yourselves what would happen to Maizono-san and I'll shall respect that decision. Since it seems most of you guys deem her worth a second, I shall as well."
"So that's the reason why you said those words just before leaving the trial." Kirigiri recalled.
Flashback
"I'll let you guys decide for yourselves. I'm gonna head back upstairs." Kuramoto said as he began to walk towards the elevator.
"What are you doing?" Kirigiri asks. "Didn't you just said that Maizono-san needed to be judged for her crime?"
"I did." Kuramoto answered. "However, it's also important that she is judged fairly. Since I was the one that caught in the midst of her act, I'm not in a position where I can judge her fairly."
"I do. However, they are very unpleasant ideas. They don't involve killing, of course. But the punishments in question are, shall we say, of a permanent nature. Are you sure you guys still want to know what my ideas are?" Kuramoto responded.
End Flashback
"Bullseye." Kuramoto declared. "I wanted to see how you guys would handle this without my influence. It would also give me some insight was to what kind of group of people I would be dealing with as a whole instead of as separate pieces."
"There is one thing that I do want to make clear." Kuramoto turned to face Maizono with a stern tone in his voice. "I did say I would give you a second and I mean it. However, do not mistake my stayed hand for a complacent one. Should you get out hand once more, I will simply take matters into my own hands and personally make sure you will not harm anyone ever again. Are we clear?"
Maizono simply nodded with a bit of fear now in her eyes.
"Good. Glad we have an understanding." Kuramoto now shifted back to his standard demeanor and tone.
"So, what do you folks plan on doing? Are you going to stick around for a little while longer or-" Kuramoto started.
"What is the meaning of this nonsense!?"
The voice was loud to grab everyone's attention. Togami had arrived at the scene.
"W-We were having a funeral, so send of those who died." Fujisaki answered.
"Are you serious? Who would waste their time on mourning that idiot and murderess?"
"You...you got some serious nerve showing up here saying that!" Asahina was now near Togami, fury burning in her eyes.
"Hmph. To think that you are still trying to defend her. Ignoring the obvious reality that she tried to kill all of us. She got what she deserved!" Togami replied.
Asahina had her hand raised, ready to slap Togami when…
"Leave."
Despite the voice not being all that loud, it carried such a heavy amount of emotion that everyone turned their heads towards the direction of the voice.
It was Kuramoto and the dark demeanor and aura that he had when Togami attempted to order him around was back and it was much worse than last time.
To the others, it felt like the entire room's atmosphere had darken greatly. It was oppressive. Like one would expect from a crowd that just witnessed a massacre. Everyone froze in their tracks as Kuramoto slowly made his way towards Togami.
"If you are not going to respect the deceased nor respect those who are mourning. Then I demand that you leave!" Kuramoto shouted out.
If Kuramoto's classmates were afraid of him last time, they were downright terrified of him now. Even Ikusaba was getting worried about what Kuramoto might do. Despite his fears, Togami stood his ground and was better composed than last time.
"Like I am going to listen to some commoner that-"
*CRACK!*
Before Togami could finish that sentence, a cracking sound was made that reverberated throughout the gym.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Togami was now on the ground, shouting in pain. His front that he had up until a few seconds ago was now completely gone. It was replaced by the cries and tears of a person consumed by agony. Kuramoto had just kicked Togami's kneecap with enough strength that it forced the kneecap back into his leg and caused a few bones to break.
Kuramoto then picked up Togami from the ground from the collar of his shirt and stared directly at him.
"Allow me to make myself clear. You will respect the deceased and you will respect human emotions while you are here. Because if you do not, none of the pain that anyone has gone through so far will be able to compare to what I'll do to you." Kuramoto said in a very threatening tone.
Togami was now truly afraid of Kuramoto. Kuramoto looked like he was ready to kill him. His eyes were filled with complete and unending hatred. He could only stare, frozen in fear, as he heard his threat addressed to him.
"Now, leave!" Kuramoto commanded dropping Togami.
Togami was now doing his best to pull himself back up and quickly leave the cafeteria. It took a few minutes, but he eventually managed to make his way towards the exit.
Once he had left, Kuramoto gave a very drawn out sigh and the room's ambience went back to how it was prior to Togami's arrival.
"Kuramoto-kun!" Ishimaru ran up to Kuramoto. "That kind of action was completely unnecessary!"
"He got what was coming to him." Asahina had said.
Both Kuramoto and Ishimaru were both surprised by her words.
"Thank you for teaching him a lesson, Kuramoto-kun." Asahina simply said as she went back to spot at the shrine.
"It doesn't matter if you think lowly of me for this." Kuramoto said to Ishimaru. "Trampling on the dead and those in mourning is the one thing I will absolutely not tolerate, consequences be damned."
Kuramoto then went towards the back of the crowd at the shrine. There were no more disturbances going and eventually the group slowly but surely started to disperse. Kuramoto was the last to leave, he decided to arrange the table that had the makeshift shrine to be around the glass panes before leaving to retire in his room.
Kuramoto decided to update his pocket journal before turning in for tonight.
Day 4 after imprisonment
9:30 PM
Important Points
- The motive videos contained footage of those close to us in peril.
- Monokuma has explained the full implications of the killing game. Every murder is followed with a Class Trial that will end in either the culprit or all of us executed.
- Hagakure was killed and Oogami was found to be the culprit.
- Maizono had also attacked Naegi the previous night, I managed to keep him alive.
Observations/Details
- The execution was brutal, especially from an emotional perspective, is Monokuma just sadistic or is there a reason behind it?
- Despite Maizono attacking Naegi, it looks like the other classmates were willing to look past it for now. I made clear I will step in if she falls out of line again.
T- he fact that the videos showed all sixteen of us having loved ones in peril only brings further credence that we have been here longer than expected and that something major is happening outside.
With that done. Kuramoto decided to head to bed. What he didn't know at the time was that this was just only the beginning and that despite his memory loss, there was no way that he could truly escape from the nightmares of his past.
Arc 1: School Life's Shattered Bond's End
Surviving Students 14
Author Notes: WHOO! The first arc of Adaptation to Despair Academy, School Life's Shattered Bonds is complete! If you guys any suggestions on ways to improve this fic, now would the time to bring it up. If you guys have any questions regarding the fanfic, I have decided to go ahead and collect them and post them via a Q and A part. (Note: Any questions you ask that will involve spoilers cannot be guaranteed to have answers that you may like to have.)
On a bit of a side note, I'm considering to start doing bonus chapters in the future. Theses will mainly revolve around the 4 co workers of Fumio Kuramoto that were introduced and where they fit in the story. I think it might some depth and allow you guys to see how things play out from the eyes of folks outside of the main cast. I hoped you enjoyed and as always, I'm open to suggestions for improvements. Another Author out!