I have all the trophies for Danganronpa and Super Danganronpa 2. And now I have Danganronpa: Another Episode (got it on the day of its release, no less).
And now I've started college, so I'm not gonna have as much time or energy to work on this as I did during the summer.
Dr. Sasaki is completely and utterly silent. After several moments, he finally says, "I feel unsure about telling you that right now."
"Why?" Mukuro asks.
"Well, for one thing, I don't want to risk any of you developing false memories. Secondly…it's not something to be discussed this late at night."
"You won't even give us a hint?" inquires Hifumi.
"I think some of you can guess from your injuries."
"But…I don't have any injuries," Mondo points out. "So how did I die?"
"…I'm not sure how to describe it."
"Why not?"
"…It's just hard to think of a way to describe it."
"It was a very strange and unusual death," Natsuki suddenly adds, her voice now back to normal.
When she realizes that everyone's staring at her, she retorts, "What? It's okay for me to be vague, isn't it?"
"…I…suppose it is," Heizo cedes.
"I'm still wondering why the lights went out," Masaru interrupts.
"We'll go look at that right now," Heizo replies, grabbing the collar of Masaru's shirt and leading him away.
The students watch them leave. Once they're gone, they begin to talk among themselves, eager to hear each other's voices.
Only one doesn't partake in this: Mukuro Ikusaba. Instead, she stares at Natsuki for several moments before walking up to her and asking, "What was going on back there?"
"What do you mean?"
"This morning, when we were looking at the paintings…"
Natsuki takes a deep breath and, in a quiet voice, says, "I remembered…how lonely I was back then… That's all…"
There's a moment of silence.
"Would you spend the night with me in my room? Please?"
"Of course," Mukuro answers.
"…Thank you."
0~*~0
"Hey Natsuki," Mukuro says as she plops down on Natsuki's bed, "can I tell you something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"It's about the way I acted during…during the movie yesterday."
"…Okay."
"When I saw that scene, I…saw something."
She then tells Natsuki of the vision she had, the one of demons dragging her away. It's short, but when she's done, she's trembling.
Natsuki's widened eyes just stare at her. "…If what you saw means what I think it means…then…" She pauses as she looks for the words. "Reviving you guys was better for you than we ever imagined."
"What do you mean?"
"…I'm not completely sure. It's just a hunch I have." She sighs. "I-I know this is unrelated but…I'm really glad to hear your voices again."
"Uh…" Mukuro isn't fully sure of how to respond. "Why?"
"Watching you all die one by one… Of course I'd be glad to hear your voices again."
"'Watching us all die one by one'? Natsuki…what exactly happened?"
…Did I say too much? Not telling her might be a little unfair… "…You were all forced to kill each other while trapped in a school. The whole thing was broadcast over the entire country. Masaru told you that, remember?"
"…Wait, what?"
…That was probably too much.
"We were…what?"
"…You were all forced to kill each other while trapped in a school. The only way out was to kill someone and get away with it."
There's a look of terror in Mukuro's eyes. "Who did I kill?"
"Wha…?"
"Who did I kill?" There's an unmistakable amount of dread in her voice.
Why does she think she killed somebody? "…Nobody. You were murdered."
She looks…confused. "Who killed me?"
"The mastermind."
"Is the mastermind one of us?"
"No, no. They were crushed to death, so it's probably impossible to revive them. Plus, they're the sort of person that's better off dead, at least in my opinion."
"Why are they better off dead?"
"Um… I'm not quite sure how to explain that."
"Why?"
"…I'm just not sure how to explain it. Come on; we should get to sleep."
Mukuro isn't satisfied, but the almost painful buzzing in her head keeps her from asking any more questions.
Her dreams that night are of two-colored bears, fire, demons, and other things that she forgets come morning.
0~*~0
The moment Natsuki wakes up, she gets a very strong feeling that something is very wrong. She makes Mukuro get up (she was already awake) and wordlessly takes her out of the room.
The girls quickly see that Leon's door is open. Natsuki lets go of Mukuro and peeks inside. Mukuro tries to follow her, but after a few seconds, Natsuki suddenly bolts away from the door, grabs Mukuro again, and drags her away.
"Uh… Natsuki?" the girl questions, sounding worried. "What's going on?"
Natsuki freezes for a bit before answering, "Leon's gotten worse. He looked like he was delirious, and his button on Masaru's arm device was pink."
"That means he'll die without medical attention, right?"
"Yes, and I'm not going to just stand by and watch Leon suffer when something can be done about it."
Mukuro doesn't ask for specifics, but she has a feeling that it has to do with the mysterious "serum" she's heard mentioned a few times. She doesn't know much about it, other than that it was involved in their revival, but now that she can talk, she plans to look into it as soon as possible; she wants to try just asking about it before looking for the information herself.
The girls continue on until they reach Heizo's bedroom. Natsuki easily throws open the door. "Dad, we-."
And is immediately greeted by the sight of Heizo sitting on the bed, his face buried in his hands.
Both girls freeze, feeling incredibly awkward. Heizo's glasses are on the nightstand and he's hunched over, shaking slightly. He looks up a bit, enough for him to see the girls but not enough for them to see his face.
Is he…crying?, Mukuro wonders as Natsuki stares with her arm raised.
"Daddy?" she says blankly, her tone emotionless.
"…Hi Suki," Heizo weakly replies, choking up.
…If he isn't crying now, he definitely was before.
"Daddy?" Natsuki repeats in the exact same tone. "What's wrong?"
"…Oh, it's just…stressful, is all."
…What exactly is "stressful"?
Natsuki slowly and almost robotically walks up to her father.
"I-Is something…wrong?"
"Leon's condition has gotten worse… Much worse," she says in a low, almost threatening tone.
"How much worse?" Heizo cautiously replies, his voice clearing up a bit.
"His button on Masaru's display is pink," Mukuro answers.
"Oh… And you want me to use the serum on him," Heizo guesses, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
"Yes," Natsuki affirms.
"I've used up almost all of the serum I had left on Sakura, and I've been too busy to make more. I could make a rough batch. It wouldn't be as effective, but…"
"It'll do."
"…All right. Give me half an hour."
Natsuki nods, then turns around and walks out, grabbing Mukuro by the wrist and taking her with.
Halfway down the hallway, Mukuro pulls out of her grip and says, "You've been acting really weird lately."
Natsuki stops, but doesn't turn around. "…I told you, I remembered how lonely I was back then."
"Something tells me it's more than that."
Natsuki turns her head just enough to see Mukuro out of the corner of her eye. "…Do I ever seem familiar to you?"
Mukuro puts her hands on her hips. "Don't avoid the question."
Natsuki notices that Mukuro's pose is identical to Junko's. "…Look, if I knew what it was, I'd love to tell you. But all I have are hunches as to what it is. As for my question earlier…"
"…I…do feel like I've heard your voice before…"
The buzzing sensation returns, spreading from Mukuro's head down to her scars, though it doesn't become painful. A familiar feeling of dread begins to creep up in her mind.
"Natsuki… Is there someone behind me?"
"I don't think so…"
Just then, the lights start flickering.
"…Let's get out of here," Mukuro says quickly before grabbing Natsuki by the arm and dashing out of the hallway. She doesn't stop until they reach a hallway where the lights aren't flickering.
Natsuki, now looking baffled, states, "Okay, now it's my turn to point out that you're acting weirdly."
Mukuro, not even panting, replies, "Yesterday, after you stayed behind with Leon, the lights started flickering and a voice said, 'You look much better without those freckles.'"
Natsuki's face goes very, very pale.
"…What?"
"If what you just said means what I think it means…"
"There's a ghost haunting the hospital!?" a voice suddenly shrieks.
"UWAH!"
"Mondo," Mukuro yells, "don't scare us like that!"
"S-Sorry… But is it true? Is there really a gh-gh…ghost?"
"…I never would've thought you of all people would've been scared of ghosts," Natsuki states. "Heck, I never thought you would even believe in ghosts."
"Wh-Why?" demands Mondo.
"…You just didn't seem like that."
"What are you basing that on!?"
Why is he getting angry? "Your behavior before your death."
"What does that have to do with anything!?" This time, he sounds more confused than angry.
"…Huh?"
"I don't even remember anything from my old life!"
"I think most of us don't…" Mukuro points out. "At least not much…"
"Just because you can't remember your old life doesn't mean your personality should be much different from before," adds Natsuki.
"Well, la de da, I don't care!" yells Mondo, sounding exasperated. "Is there a ghost or not!?"
"…I don't know. But if there is a ghost…I hope it's not who I think it is," answers Natsuki.
"…Who do you think it is?"
"…The one responsible for your deaths."
"Who?"
"…Someone who isn't here."
Mondo groans, rolls his eyes, throws up his hands, and walks away.
"…That was odd," Mukuro notes.
Natsuki just stares wide-eyed after him. "…He didn't swear."
"Huh?"
"He didn't swear once in that entire conversation."
"…So?"
"During the broadcast, he swore a lot. Especially when he was angry."
"…You might be overthinking it."
"…I have my doubts about that, but I hope you're right…"
"…So how'd it go?" another voice cautiously asks. This time, it's Masaru.
"He said to give him thirty minutes," replies Natsuki.
Masaru glances at the clock. "All right."
Mukuro feels like she had something to say, but can't remember what.
0~*~0
Making the serum is a tedious process, especially adding components to concentrate it and enhance its healing properties. Though he won't be doing that today; he just has to do some filtering.
"Don't overdo it," a small voice tells him.
"I won't," he mumbles before taking a drink out of a glass of water.
"If I knew you wouldn't, I wouldn't have said anything."
"Please be quiet." Every time I hear you, I can feel my sanity slip away.
Surprisingly, there's no response. He takes it as a cue to start the process of filtering out the serum. It takes him twenty minutes to filter out enough. Or at least, he hopes it's enough; he's so used to using the concentrated form of the serum, it's hard to tell how effective the normal form will be.
He expects "it" to make a comment, but there's only silence.
Putting the serum in an IV bag, Heizo takes another drink of water before leaving the room. He speed-walks to Leon's room, encountering only a few people on the way there. When he gets to Leon's room, the only people there are Masaru, Sayaka, and Leon.
"He fell asleep three minutes ago," informs Masaru. "Up until then, he was completely delirious."
"It's surprising how quickly his condition deteriorated," Heizo notes as he attaches the serum bag to Leon's IV rack and puts the needle in his arm. He expects Masaru to say something else, but he doesn't.
Instead, Sayaka says, "Is he going to be okay?"
"He should be," Heizo replies. "I don't know how long it'll take the serum to start working, though."
Sayaka combs her fingers through her hair…and another big clump of hair comes out.
She stares at it for several moments, looking increasingly upset before finally whining, "Why does my hair keep coming off!?"
Heizo replies, "Well, you were dead for a long time, and that probably affected your hair follicles. Your hair should grow back normally, though."
"Will I go bald!?"
"…That, I don't know." Heizo then turns to Masaru and asks, "Do you know where Natsuki is?"
"I think she's in her room."
"Thanks."
After he leaves, Masaru looks at Sayaka and states, "You know, I keep getting the feeling that he's hiding something."
"I could say the same about you," Sayaka responds.
Masaru's too nervous to ask what she means.
Author's note: Yep. I knew it. The game released before I finished the first act. I just hope I can finish this story before the next game is released.
This took longer than I thought it would (and I wanted to finish this before I entered college). I think I'm going to put Immortals on the backburner for a while; I'll still work on it, it just won't be a priority.
I have been working on this story for nearly a year. I am amazed at how long I've managed to maintain interest.
As for the next few chapters, the next chapter is going to be snippets of various lengths as I skip around time. Don't know how long that'll take. After that will hopefully be the final chapter of act one. Be sure to check out my one-shot.
…Maybe I should get a beta reader for this story.
I made a poll about chapter length. Please answer it.
