Danganronpa: Despair unbound

Chapter 2: What does courage mean

Class trial

(Faithwood Academy – Underground courtroom – Day 06 –12:45)

Jinsei's eyes shot wide open. He had been expecting a redesign of the courtroom of course, but this was just insane. The walls were decorated with pink and had red, yellow and blue balloon pictures peppering it. There were tall handsome marble columns, which had long colorful streamers hanging between them, as well as large banners with words written on them. He began to read them aloud.

"Happy birthday… Jinsei?!" he peered at the banners. Someone suddenly clapped him on the back.

"That's right Jinsei!" said Yakusha with a grin. "It's all for you, my friend!"

"B-but… the trial…" Jinsei stuttered in surprise.

"Hah! Look at this guy, he totally bought it!" laughed Daisuke, nudging him with his elbow.

"Bought… what?" he was growing increasingly confused.

"Jinsei, don't you get it?" Said Akari, smiling sweetly.

"No I don't! What's going on here?!" he said in near panic.

"This has all been a set up, Jinsei-kun!" piped up Cho with another smile. "We've been building up to your birthday, silly goose!" Jinsei thought about it… he had no idea what the date was…could it really be his birthday?

"Now it's time for the cake!" said Taro, snapping his fingers as a massive table rose up out of the middle of the room, with a massive chocolate cake sitting atop it. It looked so sweet and perfect… but Jinsei was still dubious.

"But guys! Our friends! They all died!" he tried to convince them.

"Not so, good citizen!" came a cry from behind him as he turned to face them. And sure enough, Cosmic Man, Hanako and Shou were all standing there, alive and well! Jinsei started stuttering and pointed up at them.

"B-b-b-b-but the corpses!" he said, utterly flabbergasted.

"Just make up and special effects, bud!" Said Daisuke with a smile.

"Yes. I even put on that act in court to convince you." Agreed Hanako, giving Shou a hug mid sentence. Jinsei just blinked again, still unable to believe this was all actually going on.

"But Hanako… you were eaten by a plant!" Hanako shook her head.

"That was all CGI!" said a familiar voice from behind him as Monokuma popped up. "Didn't you notice the sudden animation style change?" Jinsei jumped in surprise as the bear caught him off guard.

"Y-you're in on this too?!" he exclaimed walking backward. The bear stood on his tiptoes.

"That's right!" he exclaimed gleefully, suddenly putting his paws to his neck and removing his own head, revealing that he was actually a midget in a suit! Jinsei's jaw dropped again.

"Y…you were a midget?!"

"That's right! I just dressed up to make myself seem a bit more threatening is all! Sure worked out, huh?" the midget chuckled as he stepped out of the suit.

"…but why go through all this for me?" Jinsei further questioned, scratching his head.

"It's because you're our friend, Jinsei!" claimed Yakusha, patting him on the back again. "We decided that if we could bring you down to the depths of despair just to bring you back up again, it'd make you all the more relieved!" jinsei thought on that. He was pretty relieved thanks to all this… hell, it didn't make much sense, but maybe it was worth it.

"Enough explaining! It's time to cut the cake!" Taro boomed. Jinsei smiled and nodded. If it was his party, he was going to have fun.

The students cut the cake up and had a slice each as some nice atmospheric music began to play in the courtroom. Everyone split off and Jinsei took a bite. Sweet chocolate goodness filled his mouth as he couldn't help but smile, all that stress and depression melting away like ice cream.

He spotted Akari and Daisuke hanging out close to one another, oddly enough getting on well. Jinsei decided to investigate further.

"Hey you two." He said casually.

"Hey Jinsei. Great party, huh?" Akari said sweetly.

"Yeah… question, why are you two holding hands?" he asked. The two looked at each other and smiled.

"Well…you remember the other day after dinner? I stormed out and Akari followed me?" Daisuke started with a sly grin.

"Uh yes? What's that got to do with it?" He queried. Akari started to grin too.

"Well, we argued a lot and we kinda started getting intense about it… and um… well uh…"

"We had hate sex." Daisuke said flatly as Jinsei felt like a glass had just shattered in his head. "Amazing stuff. I mean we practically turned the room into a sauna." Jinsei felt his hands shaking a bit.

"And afterward, we just sort of gravitated. We got all our bitterness out I guess." Akari smiled as she turned to Daisuke and started kissing him passionately, wrapping her arms around his neck in an embrace. Jinsei bailed from the conversation before he could be scared any further.

He spotted Cosmic Man and Gina talking in the corner. Gina was holding some kind of suit in her hands and was looking it over.

"Jinsei!" called out Cosmic Man. "Come over here! We need your opinion on something!" Jinsei approached cocking an eyebrow.

"What for?"

"This suit." Said Gina, showing it to him. It was a suit similar to that of Cosmic Man, but it had a purple hue and it was made to suit a female build.

"Do I dare to ask?" he said, rubbing his temples slightly.

"Gina has asked to join me in my escapades against crime! This is her new suit!" Cosmic man shouted as he held it up to display it properly. "We just need your help on a name. Nebula woman or Galaxy woman?" Jinsei couldn't decide on either, they were both as equally foolish.

"I'm still not certain. What if the people don't accept me?" Asked Gina, looking at her costumed companion.

"Nonsense Gina! You'll do just fine out there!" he assured her with extreme gusto. Gina smiled and nodded proudly. Jinsei felt the situation was getting more and more surreal as it went on so he backed away from them.

"Kasper! S-stop that!" The voice of Haruo distracted him as he spotted the two behind him. Kasper was drawing on his shirt with a marker pen.

"Nah, it's too fun." Kasper snickered as he continued scribbling all over him.

"C-cmon, I gotta wash that!" Haruo chuckled as he backed away, tripping over backward and accidentally spilling a bowl of fruit punch onto Kasper.

"Now I gotta wash that too!" Kasper cackled as the two fell over each other in an overly sappy display. Jinsei found it a little heartwarming as he turned toward the other students to check on them. Furostomi and Cho were standing beside one another. Furostomi was reading something in Cho's book.

"S-so what hap-p-ppens here?" asked Furostomi.

"Well, I think I was gonna have an argument break out that ends in tragedy. I think people would gravitate more toward them that way." She explained. Jinsei wondered if she'd always been writing stories in that book instead of simply writing down their words after all. Jinsei approached and had a look. Inside he saw plans for what looked like a fantasy story.

"Do you like it, Jinsei?" Asked Cho with a sweet smile.

"Yeah… but I always thought you were writing down conversations?" he queries, which Cho dismissed with a shake of her head.

"Nah. My book would be too heavy if I did that!" she joked as she nudged Furostomi, who smiled and nodded too. She seemed far more open than usual. Jinsei smiled again. It was amazing how much more open everyone was. Near to the cake he saw Taro talking with Yakusha, who was holding a small blue bag to his head. Jinsei decided to investigate as he approached.

"You ok Yakusha?" he asked, pointing to the bag.

"Yes yes, no worry! Just banged my head a bit, using this ice pack to dull it!" he assured with a smile.

"Good job, old boy! Once that lump is gone, we can practice our lines!" Taro compliment with a pompous smile.

"Lines? What for?" Jinsei questioned.

"Ah! Well while doing this act for you, myself and Taro decided to write a musical to perform together! We're going to base it on the events in the school." Yakusha explained.

"It's true!" exclaimed Yorick, who Jinsei noticed was out of Yakusha's hand for a change and now able to talk on his own. Apparently.

"We will call it 'The great high school murder debacle!' A most fitting title wouldn't you say?" Taro continued, grinning even wider. Jinsei just nodded dumbly.

"It's so nice to see everyone getting along." Said Kiyonari oddly cheerfully as she joined their group.

"Kiyonari? You ok there?" Jinsei was shocked by this extremely. The fact of Daisuke acting nice, he could understand, but Kiyonari being completely sociable?!

"Mhm fine. I've just learned to enjoy my job thanks to you guys." She chirped with a smile, hugging onto Yakusha.

"It's worth it for you, love." The two kissed and Jinsei once again felt his mind coming apart at how much had changed in just a few hours, once again running off to go join Shou and Hanako. They, thankfully, were not kissing.

"So… it was just special effects?" he questioned.

"Yup sure was! Had you fooled, huh?" Shou teased with a toothy grin.

"Yeah… but where did you go these past few days?" Jinsei questioned. They'd been gone at least three days at least.

"Well the principal gave us a room hidden by the courtroom. It's over there." Hanako said, pointing over to the wall where Jinsei spotted a slight outline while chewing on some more cake.

"Wow… so you've been down here?" Jinsei continued.

"Mhm. It was kinda lonely, but I had Shou for company!" she said happily and Jinsei quickly backed off before they started kissing too.

Jinsei collected himself in the middle of the room and looked around. Everyone seemed genuinely happy, as if their high school life of mutual killing truly hadn't been real. There was laughter, cake, music… why did he still feel on edge?

"Master Jinsei?" The sweet voice of the maid drew him as he turned around and saw Yayoi standing behind him, in her usual attire, a smile on his face. "Are you enjoying the party?" Jinsei nodded in response, but Yayoi tilted her head. "Are you sure? You seem on edge."

"Well I am, kind of… this is all just such a massive change. It's startling…" Yayoi nodded.

"I thought it might be… so, I prepared something special for you sir." Yayoi smiled slightly slyly. Suddenly, she drew a hand behind her back and unzipped something and suddenly slipped her entire maid costume off, leaving her in just some black and white lacy underwear. Jinsei felt the blood rush to his cheeks as she smiled and approached him, trying to keep his eyes off of her bouncing chest and swaying hips. She drew close to him and pressed her body onto him, wrapping her arms around his back as her face was only inches away from his own, her eyes lustfully staring into his.

"Y-yayoi…" he managed, feeling his heart rate drastically increase with each move she made.

"It's alright Jinsei. Just leave everything to me." She whispered as her lips drew closer to his. Jinsei knew what was coming. His chest felt tight, his breath was short, his blood was pumping… a pain was throbbing in his chest… he felt weak and wrong in the head… this couldn't be simple love… this had to…

Jinsei never finished his thought. The poison laced in the birthday cake had finally take effect. One by one, the students toppled to the ground, falling on top of one another in dead slumps, their breath stopping and their hearts failing. The birthday room had become a morgue.

The principal stood shocked as he looked down at his now dead students. His brain throbbed as he tried to think of how they could all be dead. Then something hit him…

"ARKUS!" he shouted toward the doorway. The cyborg giant lumbered forward, dragging his knuckles slightly.

"Yes boss?" He said simply.

"Did you put poison in the cake?" the principal demanded. Arkus rubbed his chin as he thought.

"Duuuuhhh… yes boss." He said again.

"You idiot! Why would you poison our students?!" The midget shouted, hopping up and down.

"But I thought we were evil boss…" he said humbly, twiddling his thumbs.

"Not actually evil, it was an act!" the principal screeched.

"Ooohhhhh… so I shouldn't have-"

"No, not at all." The principal sighed and shook his head. "Go get that chainsaw from the shed, and fill the swimming pool with acid. We've at least got to cover this up."

"Yes boss." Arkus said and lumbered away. The principal sighed and turned to look at the wall. If only things could've worked out this way after all.

If only…