Please forgive me if I get anything medically wrong.

Why no reviews, guys? (For my more recent chapters, that is.)

Sorry for the slight delay. Not only is this chapter longer than usual, a three-day trip to visit my grandma because of her failing health (not counting two days driving to and from there) turned into a nearly week-long stay after she died early Thursday morning and the funeral was on Monday (the day before my birthday, no less). It was nice to see my mom's family again, though. And my cousins even got me some new headphones!

Masaru realizes that something's wrong when Chihiro and Mondo don't show up for dinner. He decides to forego asking Dr. Sasaki about it and instead goes to Hiyoko.

"Say, Hiyoko, may I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Would you mind going to the library and checking to see if Mondo and Chihiro are still there?"

"Of course. In fact, I'll go right now," she says as she leaves the cafeteria.

For some reason, Masaru can't help but think, I feel like she's more reliable than her husband.

Fifteen minutes later, they still haven't come back.

This time, Masaru decides to check things out himself.

After telling the others where he's going, he leaves for the library.

When he gets there, one of the first things he notices is the distinct sound of someone crying. It's not very loud (he can barely hear it), but it's definitely there.

He has to keep turning his head to pinpoint the source, but he eventually finds it.

Well, to be more accurate, what he finds is an open door leading to one of the back rooms with a broken window. There's also a small stack of books next to the door.

Masaru peeks inside and sees, in the corner of the room, Hiyoko and Mondo kneeling on the floor with the latter crying on the former's shoulder as she strokes his back and tries to reassure him. Chihiro's also there, kneeling a few feet away.

Masaru suddenly feels like he's being intrusive and quickly leaves.

0~*~0

"Masaru's been gone for a while," Natsuki points out to no one in particular.

Mukuro, who's sitting next to her eating a sandwich, nods in agreement.

Not five seconds later, Masaru comes back into the cafeteria.

"Well whaddaya know?"

Natsuki bounds up to Masaru…and almost immediately notices the extremely troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

Masaru briefly stiffens. "Uh… Well… It's just… Mondo was sobbing onto Hiyoko's shoulder."

"…Oh."

"And I can't think of any reason why he would do that…unless…"

"Unless he had something to do with Leon's fall down the stairs, right?"

"…Yeah. How'd you…?"

"I just guessed."

"…"

"It's not like we can just ask him about it, though. I… Why are you looking at me like that?"

"…Sometimes I wonder if you're smarter than you seem to be."

"…It was kinda obvious from your description."

Suddenly her eyes widen and she grabs his chin and right shoulder, tilting the former up to fully expose his neck.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" Masaru demands.

"There's a li'l scar on your neck," she observes.

"Finally noticed, eh?"

"…How long has that been there?"

"…I got it long before I ever came here."

"It's right over your jugular…" she notes as she eyes him with a look of suspicion on her face.

"…A guy tried to kill me several years ago by stabbing me in the neck. He just barely missed my jugular."

"…You're 25, right?"

"…Yes."

"How long is 'several years'?"

Masaru stays silent.

"…You're not going to answer me, are you?"

Masaru looks away.

"…I'll take that as a 'no.'"

"…Can you please let go of me?"

She promptly does, giving him a smirk.

"What's that look for?"

"Oh, nothing important."

Masaru watches as she walks back to her seat.

There is DEFINITELY something going on with her…

0~*~0

Later that night…

Heizo is lying awake in bed on his side, his wife curling up to his back with her arm around his waist. It's quiet, and though it should be peaceful, he actually finds it a bit unnerving.

It doesn't last for much longer, though.

"DR. SASAKIIIIIII!" screams Masaru as he bursts into the room, nearly tearing the door off its hinges.

Heizo bolts upright, as does the now-awake Hiyoko, clinging tightly to him.

"We have a problem!" Masaru says again, brandishing the device on his arm.

"Hold on, hold on," Heizo complains as he gropes his nightstand for his glasses.

"It's…3 a.m." he notes when he finally gets them on. "What's…?"

Then he notices that Leon's button is a solid orange. "What the heck?"

"I just happened to be awake when it suddenly went off," Masaru explains.

"What does it say?"

"…I don't know, I didn't check it."

"Well, open it!"

"All right, all right!" he complains as he brings up the appropriate display. "How come I'm the only one who can do stuff with these displays?"

"So that no one can look at the displays without your permission."

Masaru decides not to comment on Heizo's answer of his semi-rhetorical question.

Suddenly, Heizo's eyes go wide. "What the-!?"

0~*~0

A few hours later…

Natsuki is awoken by something moving in her arms.

"Hmm?" she hums as she groggily opens her eyes.

Mukuro is sleeping on her side, lying on top of Natsuki's hand. She carefully inches her hand out from under the girl so as not to awaken her.

They had agreed the previous night for Natsuki to spend the night with Mukuro in her room in case the latter had nightmares about the movie. Which she ended up having. That ended with both girls falling asleep with Mukuro tightly wrapped in Natsuki's arms.

Right now, though, Natsuki just flexes her tingling hand, an unusual feeling of lightness in her chest.

I think that's the first time I've been able to do that for anyone. It feels nice… I wonder if she ever comforted Junko. Prolly not.

She glances up at the clock on the wall.

It's 7:45… I think we can sleep in a little longer…

Still, her intuition tells her that she shouldn't go back to sleep, that something's wrong.

She sits up slightly to get a better look at the other girl. Mukuro's sleeping soundly, her breathing steady and even.

Her intuition still unsatiated, she slowly gets out of bed so as not to wake Mukuro and goes into the bathroom.

She looks at herself in the mirror and combs her hair with her fingers. It's not long before she pauses, though, and tilts her head downwards. Pinkish-blonde roots stand out against her light-purple hair.

Huh. Looks like my hair's growing out again. …Maybe I'll let it grow back to its natural color again. It's been years since I've done that.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" a voice suddenly yells. It's muffled, as though coming from another room.

Within moments, Natsuki is at the door leading to the hallway. She opens the door slightly, listening intently.

"What was with that outburst!?" yells Natsuki's father.

"Because you're not taking this seriously!" replies Masaru.

"I'm not taking what seriously?"

"Your duty as caretaker of these teens."

"I told you, I'm the leader of this establishment. I can't constantly keep an eye on them!"

"What about being the father of a teenage girl?"

"Huh?"

"You said that at the meeting."

"You can't possibly expect me to remember everything I said!"

"Well YOU'RE her father, so I expect you to remember at least that much. Besides, you were always willing to make time for your daughter, and she's been spending most of her time with Mukuro lately."

"…Your point?"

"You could spend the time you would've spent with Natsuki with the other kids instead."

"Ah… Well… You see… I wasn't so…busy back then…"

"Well the least you could do is have a decent bedside manner towards them! And you're really not that busy."

"What do you know about bedside manner?"

"That's not the point! What happened to the man who stroked the side of Leon's head while he was still dead? What happened to the man who-?"

"At no point did I say I was going to take on a fatherly role to the teens!"

"And I'm the brotherly type, not the fatherly type! A brother shouldn't have to take on the role of a father to his siblings. Your wife's already taken on the role of a mother to them. She, unlike you, actually went to the library when I told her about Mondo. And don't try to claim you did go; I asked Chihiro if he saw you and he shook his head. And Sakura… Did you ever consider asking her why she insists on training despite her weakening physical state?"

"…The way you're talking about this makes me feel like you're speaking from experience."

There's no response for several seconds.

"W-Well…" Masaru stammers, his harsh tone replaced with one of nervous indignation, "regardless… You…you should at least TRY to care about them…!"

"I do care about them," Heizo sternly replies.

"The way you acted towards Leon says otherwise!" Masaru retorts, his tone changing back to harsh. "How do you think Natsuki will feel when she finds out?"

Natsuki cringes. Invoking her like that with Heizo was usually a bad idea.

Oddly enough, though, Heizo doesn't respond.

At first.

"…How can I take care of sixteen kids when I can't even take care of one?" Heizo asks, his voice becoming quiet and somber.

"What do you mean?" Masaru inquires, his own voice becoming concerned.

"How can I give emotional support to sixteen kids when I couldn't do the same for my own daughter?" There's a noticeable amount of sadness in his voice.

Natsuki leans in closer, eager to listen and hopefully learn something about herself that she still can't remember. She's faintly aware of someone next to her, also listening in on the conversation.

"Your daughter seems fine," Masaru points out.

"The only reason she's like that right now is because of her amnesia. Of course, even before The Tragedy, she still seemed fine… But I only thought that because she seemed so happy. I couldn't comprehend that something was wrong…no matter how hard she tried to signal that that was the case."

"Huh?"

"She's shown you her art gallery, right?"

"Yes…"

"Those aren't all the paintings she's made that we have. We found some of her paintings at Hope's Peak, and I've been keeping them, along with the paintings she made at home, in the closet in my room."

"You have a closet in your room?"

"It'll make more sense if you look at those. In hindsight, it was obvious but…" He sighs. "And those weren't the only warning signs."

"What else was there?"

"Not long after she started middle school, she dyed her hair, cut it short, and put in colored contacts to make her irises look green. If she had started dressing differently, I might've noticed that something was wrong, but… I didn't even ask her why."

"That would explain some of the pictures I've seen…"

"When she first started, she also kept talking about her friends and she spent almost all her free time with them. After her change, though, she stopped talking about them and started spending all her time painting and drawing instead."

"Are you implying that Natsuki had depression?"

"She might've had something like it, I don't know. I'm not the psychology expert. I don't think she had depression as most people think of it. It's impossible to tell what was wrong now, though."

"Well-." Just then, the familiar beeping of the device starts up. "Oh geez, Sakura again."

"Well, I'll leave you to it-."

"Oh no, Dr. Sasaki. You're coming with me."

"Wha-!? Hey, let go of me! Masaru…!"

Heizo's protests gradually fade as they move down the hallway.

It's only when they've disappeared completely that Natsuki dares to open the door all the way. Sure enough, the hallway is empty.

Natsuki steps into the middle of the hallway, Mukuro following and closing the door behind her.

"So whaddaya think?" asks Natsuki as she stares down the hallway. "Should we check on Leon first or should we go find my paintings?"

Mukuro glances at Leon's door.

I have a feeling that something's wrong with Leon… But if that's true, Natsuki might not want to leave him, and then we'd never see those paintings… To be honest, I'm curious about those too…

Mukuro puts her hand on Natsuki's shoulder and motions down the hallway.

"You wanna go look for my paintings?"

She nods.

"All right, but my parents' room is in the other direction."

Mukuro can't hide her embarrassed blush.

0~*~0

It doesn't take them long to find the room; in fact, Natsuki heads straight there, as if she knows the way by heart.

And as it turns out, she does.

"You know, at first, it was just me, Mom, and Dad living here," she reveals along the way. "Back then, the plumbing and most of the lights didn't work. The ones that did were dim and kept flickering. The hospital was also really decrepit and dirty. It-It looked like it was straight out of a horror film. I loved to explore it back then. Of course, now everything's been cleaned up and restored, but as far as I know, the basement hasn't, um, gone through that. We should go down there and, uh, explore some time. Anyway, at first, we all shared the same room, even th-the same bed, though that was partially because there weren't any other usable beds in the hospital. I eventually got my own room, but Mom and Dad still sleep in that room. I'd love to tell you more about what it was like back then, but I think I'll wait until…until you can talk again."

And out of all of that, the only thing Mukuro can internally comment on is… There's a basement?

When they reach the room, Natsuki tries the door and it immediately opens.

"Huh. It's not locked," she observes.

The room is quite bare, Mukuro notes. Aside from the two-person bed, the only other piece of furniture is a rather wide nightstand with a lamp on it. There's also another, wooden door in the corner of the room.

Natsuki, not waiting for Mukuro, heads straight for the other door, saying, "Come on."

Mukuro briefly hurries as Natsuki opens the door.

Inside are several pieces of clothing hanging from racks…and on the floor are several canvases, a moderately sized stack of paper, and a few large metal boxes.

Natsuki heads for the murals while Mukuro heads for the papers.

Mukuro picks up the paper on top of the stack, which turns out to be a drawing of a park with a couple sitting on a bench and a tree on the edge of a lake. It's quite a detailed drawing, especially considering that it's drawn in colored pencil.

The next one is a colored pencil drawing of a school that doesn't look at all familiar to Mukuro. The next is of a teenage boy, also unfamiliar. The next is a sketch, drawn in ordinary pencil, of a person looking out a window at a cityscape. The next few are crude child's drawings of various shapes.

Mukuro suddenly hears Natsuki let out a small gasp. She looks up and sees Natsuki clutching a canvas with a shocked look on her face. Mukuro goes over to her and looks at the canvas.

It's a painting of a river running through a meadow with blossoming cherry trees lining its banks, with a blue sky over it all.

"My Dad had one of the walls of my room at our old apartment painted like this," Natsuki explains, her voice sounding distant and far-off. "Though I ended up having it covered with a tarp for several years because I felt like it was mocking me…"

Mukuro barely has time to form a coherent thought before Natsuki puts down the painting and picks up another. It's the one the sketch was based off of, showing a nondescript gray person in a dark gray room looking out a large window at a colorful and beautifully detailed cityscape. It comes off as rather depressing.

Mukuro looks back at Natsuki and is immediately concerned to see that she has a completely blank look on her face. Mukuro grabs Natsuki's shoulder and gently shakes her, but she doesn't respond.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, Mukuro thinks as she takes the painting out of Natsuki's hands and puts it back on the floor. Natsuki has no reaction beyond letting her arms drop to her sides. Mukuro grabs her by the arm, hoists her up, and leads her out of the closet and out of the room.

By the time they're back in the hall, Natsuki's expression has gone back to neutral, though her eyes are wider than normal. She remains silent.

Mukuro practically drags Natsuki back to Leon's room, with neither uttering a single word on the way there.

When they get back, the hallway is still empty.

It must be past breakfast time, Mukuro realizes. I wonder if anybody's going to come and look for us…

"You wanna check on Leon now?" Natsuki suddenly asks in a quiet, dull tone.

Mukuro can't help but give her a concerned look.

"Don't worry about me," Natsuki assures in almost the exact same tone as before, giving a small smile. "I'll be fine."

…You're not doing a very good job of convincing me.

Still, Mukuro opens Leon's door…and almost immediately stops short when she sees Leon.

There's an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose and IVs in his arms. Leon looks at them through half-closed eyes, looking exhausted. She can tell even from the doorway that he's having difficulty breathing.

"Leon?" Natsuki says from behind her. "Did they diagnose you with pneumonia?"

Mukuro glances back at her. How could she tell just by looking?

Leon weakly nods.

Natsuki suddenly pushes past Mukuro and sits down at the chair next to Leon's bed.

"Mukuro… You go on ahead. I'll stay here and take care of Leon."

Okay, she's really acting weird, Mukuro thinks.

Sensing that Mukuro hasn't left, Natsuki says, "Don't worry about me. I've had pneumonia five times in my life, so I'm pretty sure I'm immune to it by now."

A gasp is one of the few sounds that Mukuro can make, and she makes a very loud one when she realizes exactly what Natsuki has just said. Even Leon's eyes go somewhat wider.

Okay, I'm pretty sure that is NOT normal.

"I had a weak immune system as a child," Natsuki explains. "Just go already."

Feeling uneasy, Mukuro finally obeys, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

0~*~0

As Mukuro heads down the hallway towards the cafeteria, she quickly notices that the lights are flickering, especially the ones closest to her. After several more steps, she begins to get the feeling that someone's behind her. She stops and turns, but nobody's there. The feeling doesn't go away, though; in fact, it gets stronger.

Now starting to get unnerved, Mukuro resumes walking at a faster pace. The feeling still hasn't left, and now a feeling of dread is starting to creep up in her mind. She wishes there was someone else in the hallway.

She suddenly feels a hand run through her short, fuzzy hair, briefly stroking her forehead. Her whole body goes cold.

"You look much better without those freckles," a thin, whispery voice murmurs into her ear, too quiet for her to identify the voice.

Mukuro decides not to take any chances and runs like hell all the way to the cafeteria.

0~*~0

When she gets to the cafeteria, panting slightly, the only person there is the serving lady.

She looks up at Mukuro, surprised. "I was wondering when you'd come."

Mukuro, still panting, just shrugs.

"Where's Natsuki?"

Mukuro just stares. …Did you forget that I'm incapable of talking?

The serving lady seems to realize it a few moments later. "…Oh yeah… W-Well, the others have already had breakfast. I don't know where they are now, though."

Mukuro just shrugs, and grabs some food, the sense of uneasiness still lingering. After finishing her breakfast rather quickly, she immediately goes off to find the others.

She eventually finds Mondo helping Chihiro get a book from a high shelf in the library and spends the rest of the morning with them. After lunch, she poses for Hifumi's drawings for two hours, and then spends the rest of the day doing various things with just about everyone else. She doesn't encounter the flickering lights or whispering voice again. Nor does she see Natsuki.

The last person she's with is Sayaka. The whole time she's with her, there's a palpable amount of worry in her expression. Mukuro doesn't have to try to ask why.

When they end up in the hallway where their rooms are, Mukuro looks at the wall clock. It's 9:50.

She then notices that Sayaka is staring at Leon's door. Feeling a strange twinge of guilt, she takes Sayaka's good hand and leads her inside.

Leon is asleep, still wearing an oxygen mask and still with IVs in his arms. Natsuki is still sitting on the chair by his bedside, her hand on his forehead.

"Hi Sayaka," she says in a dull, far-off tone, not turning around.

Mukuro lets go of Sayaka's hand and leaves.

Sayaka covers her mouth as she lets out a small gasp, her eyes watering from shock.

What happened!? Why did no one tell me about this!?

Hearing the gasp, Natsuki says, "It's all right, Sayaka. I can handle this. You can leave."

No, Sayaka thinks, I am not leaving him when he's like this! Why don't you get that?

She then feels an odd sensation in her throat, as though something inside it is bobbing up and down.

She swallows awkwardly and suddenly gets an idea.

"Ah… Ah…"

Natsuki immediately turns around, startled by the sudden sound.

Sayaka is standing a foot or two behind her, looking just as surprised as she is, with her mouth open and her hands clasped together.

"Ah… I…"

Natsuki stares at her intently, silently egging her on. Come on… You can do it…

"I-I…want t…to stay… With him," she asserts, her voice sounding a bit raspy.

Natsuki has no idea how to respond to this sudden development. So she decides to respond to it as though it was normal.

"I… Uh… He…"

Regardless, she's still at a total loss for words.

"S-Sayaka…" comes a quiet, slightly muffled voice from behind her.

Natsuki turns around again and sees Leon, now awake, looking at them through barely-open eyes. She can swear that he's smiling through the oxygen mask.

"Wh-What happened to him?" asks Sayaka, concern in her voice.

"He probably has pneumonia."

"P-Probably?"

"They had stuff like this hooked up to me when I was hospitalized for pneumonia. That's a story for later, though."

Sayaka isn't sure what to say. She ends up not having to say anything.

"Natsuki?" a male voice says from behind Sayaka.

Once again, everybody turns to look at the doorway. This time, it's Heizo.

"Daddy?"

"D-Doctor Sasaki?"

Heizo's already wide eyes go even wider.

"You can talk now?" he asks Sayaka.

"Y-Yeah…" she replies a bit apprehensively.

"How?"

"I-I don't know… I just…felt something weird in my throat and then…and then I just tried talking."

"You just tried… Is there anybody else?"

"Leon. But it was just Sayaka's name."

"I-I just started being able to a few minutes ag-"

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" suddenly comes from the hallway.

Heizo immediately whirls around and is nearly bowled over by Masaru, who grabs his shoulders and screams, "DR. SASAKI! THE HOSPITAL IS HAUNTED!"

Heizo just gives him a wide-eyed stare. "…What…?"

Masaru takes a few deep breaths before explaining, "Okay, I heard somebody's voice whispering into my ear even though there was nobody else in the hallway!"

Heizo waits for several seconds as Masaru pants. "…That's it?"

"…Yeah…"

"…That's not much basis to believe in a haunting, is it?"

Before Masaru can answer, the hallway lights all go out, followed by all the bedroom doors opening almost simultaneously. Just about everyone looks startled, some more so than others.

"Why are the lights-?" Hifumi begins. "Huh? I'm talking!?"

"I-I guess everyone can now…" responds Sayaka.

"Figures…" Taka rasps.

"Really!?" booms Mondo before looking surprised at himself. "My voice sounds different than I thought it would be…"

"Sounds exactly the same to me…" notes Masaru.

"But why now?" asks Celeste, speaking in a more normal accent instead of her fake French one.

"I don't know… I don't think anybody knows."

There's a pause.

"Who… Who just said that?" Chihiro asks apprehensively.

"It's the ghost!" shrieks Masaru.

"…I didn't think you were the type to freak out over ghosts…" Heizo notes.

"I'm not freaking out because there's a ghost, I'm freaking out because it might be HER!"

"…Oh."

"Her?" inquires Sakura.

"I'll…tell you some other time. It's getting late; you all should go back to bed."

"Before we do that," the strange voice says again, "there's something I want to know."

This time, the owner of the voice steps forward. It's Mukuro.

"So that's what your voice really sounds like…" states Masaru.

She stares at him for a few moments before saying, "How'd we all die?"

Author's note: To whomever it may concern: I finished the main story of SDR2 after 48 hours, 21 minutes, and 1 second, and I've gotten all the boys' endings for Dangan Island.

For those of you who haven't heard, the localization of Danganronpa Another Episode is coming out on September 1st. So, depending on how quickly I can get through this story, I may have to pause this story until I can play through the game or watch a full walkthrough. Though I have a feeling the game will come out before I can finish this act.

I feel like I need a break from storywriting… I just don't want to give up on Immortals…