Disclaimer: The Danganronpa franchise does not belong to me. The content affiliated with this fanfiction belong to Spike Chunsoft and Kazutaka Kodaka. The cover art belongs to the artist, Sakuya. This fanfiction is being cross-uploaded on Archive Our Own, and the authors notes are located at the bottom.
Chapter Three: A Heartless Journey Pt 1
Yukizome Theater
"I've never really understood things like the trolley problem before."
"They say that you have the choice to save five people or one? Duh, obviously just kill both!"
"Man, I've been super stoked about what's to come, looks like the killing game is getting more interesting by the minute!"
"Oh, and I'm really taking a liking to the new despair-ridden Kyosuke...it's so dreamy!"
All night Ryota had been tossing and turning over what happened yesterday. No matter how hard he tried, there was just no plausible way of getting the gruesome image of Great Gozu's bloody corpse being suspended to the ceiling or Bandai getting burned alive and blown up with oil out of his head. Everything had happened so fast and he barely even had a moment to give them a proper goodbye or even a funeral, after the trial was over Gozu's corpse was removed for clean-up and never returned.
It was plain to see the Ultimate Animator was in such a deep state of shock because of everything because he missed the regularly scheduled Monokuma announcement that always obnoxiously woke him from his sleep. After fetching a new black suit from his closet, he reassuringly smacked his cheeks, repeatedly telling himself that Togami and his troops were on their way to come rescue the members of the Future Foundation.
All they needed to do was hold out for just a little longer, ignore any tempting motives that Monokuma may give them, and most important of all — don't murder.
He specifically remembered Monokuma warning them about tardiness after a morning announcement at the cost of being injected with poison and zipped straight down to Chez Monokuma to meet up with everyone.
As he promptly stepped foot into the cafeteria he was welcomed by all his friends whom he'd come to know over the course of the past few weeks. The only people who weren't here were Sakakura and Munakata, the latter of which he really didn't mind very much, after all the chaos that he caused throughout the whole Killer Killer and Despair Disease fiasco, he never wanted to see that man ever again.
"Good morning, Mitarai-kun," Gekkogahara greeted. "How are you doing?"
Was that a rhetorical question? Evidently, there was no way he could possibly feel any good after the tragedy has happened yesterday, but assumed that Gekkogahara was just trying to lighten the moment, heaven knows they needed that after everything. "I'm alright, after the talk we had with Togami-san yesterday, I'm more determined to get out of here."
"Gekkogahara-chan already took the liberty of giving us information on the Future Foundation forces coming to our rescue." Kizakura acknowledged. "Since Monokuma seems to already know about Alter Ego, there's probably no point in keeping that a secret anymore."
"That still begs the question of why Monokuma isn't trying to put a stop to our efforts of ending the killing game." Kimura replied.
"Yeah, it's pretty strange. Monokuma doesn't really seem bothered by this at all, almost like he was expecting for us to talk to Alter Ego-kun and Togami-kun." Naegi realized.
"Maybe he's planning something bigger than this killing game?" Gekkogahara guessed at the top of her head. "What if this killing game is just a cover for something more grand."
Ryota felt that she did make quite a valid point, there were still so many things they didn't know about their reasoning for being in this building or what their purpose for being forced to kill each other was. Based on what he could gather; some villainous group called The New Revolution kidnapped them and erased their memories, subsequently forcing them into a mutual killing game.
According to what Togami explained to them, things aren't necessarily looking good on the outside world either, since a "second tragedy" is occuring called the Mirai Holocaust. The only thing Ryota could guess with that information in mind is that they're a group of terrorists who are trying to demolish every last bit of hope in the world, which explains why the Future Foundation would be forced to kill each other.
Was that really true, however?
Then, there's the traitor. According to Monokuma, a traitor from the aforesaid terrorist group have infiltrated the building and are currently masterminding this killing game. Originally, they thought it was Yukizome, but in the end she was only a pawn to Monokuma's master plan.
They were running out of fingers to point, four of their comrades were already dead, and Ryota genuinely didn't want to have to suspect anyone else. The most likely candidate for being the traitor would have been Munakata, but overtime Ryota grew to believe that was probably a little too obvious.
Just as he was about to sit down at the table and enjoy some breakfast, a voice interrupted their silence and deliberation. "Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"
His eyes were perplexed by what he was witnessing as well. It was Asahina, who appeared differently compared to before — she removed her blazer and tie, only leaving her tank top present, in addition to discarding her stockings, which showed a more athletic and curvaceous physique. The mere change in attire wasn't really surprising to Ryota, more than anything it was the change in personality compared to yesterday, she seemed relatively more happy compared to the girl from yesterday.
"Hello to you too, aren't we looking chipper today." Kizakura smirked.
"Asahina-san…I'm glad that you're okay." Naegi smiled in relief. It seemed apparent that he too was fearing that she may have fallen into a deep state of despair.
"Yeah, I'm definitely okay, I've never felt better!" the Ultimate Swimmer charismatically said. "I could probably eat a thousand donuts right now!"
"Does that mean you're not sad about yesterday?" Kimura asked concerningly.
"Well, yeah, of course I'm still really sad about what happened to both Gozu and Bandai." Asahina grievously lowered her head before raising it determinately. "But I've already found my resolve! Even if Gozu didn't get a chance to avenge his wife and daughter...I'm still here! I'll survive this stupid killing game and end things for all three of them! And Bandai too!"
"Do you really think we'll be able to do that?" Ryota asked in self doubt.
Naegi nodded with reassurance. "Yeah, of course we will."
Ryota was in deep thought about all of this that had been transpiring, it was nice to see there were still some optimistic people in the game like Gekkogahara, Naegi as usual, and even Asahina, it softened the blows of everything they had faced thus far, but part of him genuinely wondered if those "reinforcements" that Togami mentioned would even show up yet.
With a new resolve in her mind, Asahina eagerly clenched her fists together. "The name of the game is simple, right? All we have to do is find the mastermind and the game will end, right? So spare me your slump shouldered modesty...people are rooting for you jackarse!"
Ryota could already feel himself smiling at her determination, especially after seeing her borrowed that quote that Gozu said preceding his death. He was glad to see that Asahina wasn't beating herself up over what happened yesterday and had been making an effort to better things, she was definitely strong, then something dawn on him. "Wait a minute...jack arse ?" he chuckled in amusement.
"This might be a bad time to acknowledge this, but what the heck," Kizakura broke the conversation. "Isn't it a little strange that we haven't seen Munakata or Sakakura anywhere since yesterday?"
"After everything that heartless jerk did, he'd better not show his face in this room!" Asahina hissed. "And since him and Sakakura are friends, that probably means he's with him too!"
"We're at a point where neither of those men can be left alone anymore." Izayoi calmly stated. "Frankly, I would have no qualms with Munakata being killed, I never trusted him to begin with."
"I've got an idea, how about we just capture those two and tie them up in a supplies closet or something until this stupid killing game finally ends?" Ando proposed.
"We can't just going around doing something things like that," Gekkogahara gasped. "Munakata-san has done a lot of bad, but we can't afford to fight at a time like this, we'd only be feeding into Monokuma's desires to watch us betray one another."
"Also, they would probably die of starvation if we tied them up." Ryota pointed out.
"Is it possible that Munakata is actually plotting another motive with Monokuma as we speak? Surely that could be a feasible explanation for his current absence." Izayoi stated. "If that's the case then we could possibly assume that Sakakura is with him."
"No, I'm not so sure about that. Remember what happened yesterday?" Kimura reminded him. "Munakata-san threw Sakakura-san under the bus after the trial ended and said he didn't need his help anymore, it seemed like he was pretty serious about that as well."
"If that's the case then that only leaves one more important question...exactly where is Sakakura right now?" Kizakura asked.
"Maybe he went off to explore the building some more?" Izayoi wondered. "Didn't Monokuma say that new areas would open in the building after a murder occured?"
Kimura gasped. "That's right, I'd nearly forgotten about that. That means that Munakata-san is likely to be on the newest floor as well."
For some arbitrary Ryota felt sick to his stomach upon hearing the words "Munakata" and "new area" being used in the exact same sentence. After all, it was because of his finagling that two of their friends were killed and the second motive of the killing game was started. If that were to heaven forbid, happen again, then they would be involved in another murder and another trial. "Well, we'd better get going, right?"
"Mitarai-kun, stop!" Gekkogahara scolded him. "Don't you remember what I said before? You can't just keep skipping breakfast."
The Ultimate Animator chuckled embarrassingly and nodded. "Right, I almost forgot about that."
Once breakfast was finished the silence that Monokuma left with them after the trial was rather off putting, it had been an hour since the initial morning announcement and still hadn't heard a single word from the villainous teddy bear since he executed Bandai.
Ryota was beginning to wonder exactly where Monokuma had went, his absence ironically made him far more on edge than his ever-irritating presence, the fact that Munakata wasn't present with them at the moment really wasn't making things any better either.
They all divided and decided to search across the different available rooms in the building in search for Munakata and Sakakura, with any hope they could potentially prevent another killing game motive being proposed to Monokuma or even worse — another motive from happening.
In curiosity, Ryota decided to pay a visit to the Ultimate Boxer's office to see if they were anywhere present in that room. It probably seemed like the most obvious place to look but they were running out of options of places to explore in this room.
Upon arrival he soon learned the aesthetics were quite different from what he'd been expecting. Considering that this office belonged to Sakakura, he expected the setting to be more gruff and menacing than what it truly turned out to be. The room itself was mostly normal except for the pantry filled with lots of delicious snack cakes that made Ryota feel a little peckish, and the punching bag hung in the center of the room, being that Ryota never had any fighting experience it seemed better to leave that stuff alone.
The man himself had been sitting in a corner downing a bottle of what looked to be vodka in the dimly lit room. The Ultimate Boxer had merely taken a few seconds before crudely turning his head back. "What're you doing here, Mitarai? I didn't expect someone like you to show up at a time like this."
Ryota flinched slightly at the snide remark, though in retrospect it only made sense that he would have that kind of reaction towards someone like him. He wasn't even close to being the most impactful member of the Future Foundation and the two had barely interacted before, except during the first case when he kneed him in the stomach for attempting to stick up for Asahina. In a situation like this, it would probably be normal for him to harbor ill feelings against Sakakura for attacking him like that, but at this point he barely even cared anymore, that all seemed like water under the bridge and everyone seemed to be a victim to this terrible killing game.
Of course, their history together was irrelevant at the moment. "Well, we've all been worried about you. You didn't come down for breakfast today and we didn't seem you anywhere in the hall."
"Worried about me? Don't bullshit a bullshitter," Sakakura pity laughed. "I'm not an idiot, being in cahoots with Munakata pretty much makes me public enemy number two, right? Honestly, after all the crazy shit that Monokuma pulled thus far, I just needed to get away from it all."
No, that's not it. Ryota could practically feel the lie that was carried with that sentence, clearly he wasn't being honest with himself. "Are you upset because Munakata-san betrayed you…?" he blurted out in a wild guess.
"Was it that obvious?" the muscular man sarcastically chuckled. A small vicinity of Ryota wondered if he was being tested to say the wrong thing and if he would've gotten beaten up if he agreed with his question, he decided to keep quiet.
The two simply stood there motionless for a few long minutes, Ryota was never the most gregarious and wasn't the best at starting conversations either. "Yesterday when Munakata said he was impressed with your idea of hope, I never expected to hear him say that, admittedly I was a little pissed after hearing that. Ever since our days back at Hope's Peak Academy I had always been Munakata's right-hand man and would carry out his orders without any questions asked."
"I know. I don't really think I wanna join Munakata-san after all the things he did to Gozu-san and Bandai-san yesterday, even his proposal didn't really matter to me," Ryota replied before nervously eyeing the Ultimate Boxer. "What about you...do you really think what he's doing is okay?"
"I'd have to be pretty fucking homicidal to think that, now would I?" Sakakura raised an eyebrow. "I don't really know what happened to Munakata, he's really gone off the deep end ever since Yukizome died. Usually, I'm not afraid to get my hands a little dirty in order to carry out some of his orders, but there's no way I could have done any of that stuff to Gozu and Bandai."
He satisfied his parched mouth by taking another drink from the vodka. "Munakata wasn't always like this. Back in the good old days, the three of us graduated and were gonna help create an overseas branch for Hope's Peak Academy. Yukizome would have been a teacher, Munakata the headmaster, and I would've been the head of security."
Ryota looked mournful and sighed. "That never happened, right? The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History happened after that, and Yukizome-sensei was a double-agent from the Ultimate Despair right under our noses."
Another small laugh escaped from Sakakura's somber mouth. "You know, the weirdest thing about the two of us is that we're not exactly too different from each other."
The was something that Ryota could quite put his finger on. What did he mean by them not being too different? It seemed like the two of them had more differences than similarities altogether. For starters, Sakakura was a fighter to the core and had zero qualms harming any individual who may stand in his path, while Ryota saw himself as a pacifist who hated the idea of fighting — especially towards women and children — and more than anything, just wanted to live in a world where things were peaceful without being forced to resort to violence.
The fact that Sakakura would actually say that he's similar to Ryota in some way was mind boggling to him. "What do you mean?" the ashen animator questioned.
"Well based on what I've heard, you had an encounter with Enoshima Junko like I did one," Sakakura answered. Ryota let out a small gasp to express his shock at the revelation, but kept quiet after realizing that he still wasn't finished with the conversation. "The two of us both made huge mistakes that would end up costing us big time."
"You met Enoshima too?" Ryota asked.
"Yeah. It was around the time the Parade of Hope's Peak Academy was happening." Sakakura retorted. That name certainly shoved a chill straight down Ryota's spine, almost positive that he would never have to heard that name ever again after all the trouble that occurred that day; the same day that his classmates finally became the Remnants of Despair. "I found out about some of the shit that Enoshima pulled, I had one job — expose that dumb bitch for all she did — and I failed and kept my mouth shut about everything."
This small revelation of information caught Ryota off guard a bit, up until this point he was positive that Enoshima's actions of convincing the Reserve Course to commit suicide, creating the Remnants of Despair, and the death of the Student Council were mostly kept under wraps with people seemingly unaware of all that happened. According to what some of the members of the 10th Division, Hope's Peak Academy tried to keep many things concealed to the public to avoid tarnishing their good name.
"Then, what happened after that?" Ryota asked. Just from Sakakura's expression's it was pretty obvious this tale wouldn't have much of a happy ending, otherwise they wouldn't even be in their current situation right now.
"I was blackmailed," he coarsely replied. "I got close to putting that bitch in the dog house, but she held some personal information against me and said she'd reveal this secret if I reported her to the authorities. Pretty stupid, right? Letting something so petty get the better of me, I think so too."
"Sakakura-san, if you don't mind me asking...what was she trying to blackmail you with?" Ryota innocently questioned. "Was it really that bad?"
For some inexplicable reason his cheeks started to glisten a pink color at that question and he sheepishly lowered his head to the floor, passively staring at his boots. "Well, it's complicated. Back at Hope's Peak Academy, the three of us were best friends and would do everything together, but overtime I gained feelings for them and ended up being the third wheel in everything."
Feelings? As in romantic feelings? Surely, that must have been what he was thinking. "You had a crush on Yukizome-sensei!?" Ryota gasped.
Sakakura blinked. "No, that's not what I meant!" he defended before letting out an irritated sigh, "You know what, never mind. It doesn't matter right now anyway."
Ryota wasn't really sure what he could've been talking about, then realized that he apparently believes it doesn't matter anymore and should simply be dropped, so he decided to respect his wishes.
"After that the Tragedy happened, I had the chance to end things right then and there, I had one job," he cursed before infuriating standing up from his chair and brutally kicking a nearby chair to the wall until one of the legs fell off. "One FUCKING job!"
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Enoshima wasn't always one to stay true to her word. It's possible the Tragedy would've happened regardless of what you did." Ryota mentioned in a vain attempt to make light of the situation.
"Great, now I feel complete." Sakakura sarcastically laughed. "To be frank, after learning that Enoshima was killed by Naegi and his friends, it pissed me off, ever since that day I've wanted nothing more than finish her off myself."
He stared at Ryota intensely with horrid eyes and clenched his sinister fist so tightly that it almost looked like blood would ooze out at any minute. "If I'm being honest, part of me wishes that Enoshima was still alive, that why I'd be able to kill her until there's nothing left."
Even though Ryota hated Enoshima as well, part of him couldn't help but feel a little frightened by such a horrendous threat, Sakakura clearly wasn't called the most feared man in the Future Foundation for nothing, Ryota decided to make a mental note to never make enemies with him.
The two sat quietly and went several minutes without speaking a word. This was partially because of two reasons; Sakakura was running out of things to talk about and Ryota was realizing how chaotic his temper could be and how sadistic his threats could be.
Ryota didn't really know how to change the subject and figured now would be a better time than ever to take his leave. Before taking the chance to step up and safely exit the door, he caught a glimpse of a framed photograph on his wall, something that he missed on his way in — the picture depicted an older man with green hair wearing a typical boxing outfit, though they carried a championship belt around their waist.
Feeling intrigued, Ryota stood up and walked over to the picture for a closer look. "Hey Sakakura-san, is that you?" he asked pointing to the photograph.
"No, that's not me," the Ultimate Boxer denied in addition to standing up as well. "He's my father, Sakakura Kichirou, a leading heavyweight champion in Japanese boxing, tough as nails and the sternest bastard you would have ever met."
Sakakura Kichirou? Ryota racked his brain trying to figure out whether or not that name was familiar to him or not, feeling the name was somewhat familiar to him. Then again, aside from the time he once watched Ashita no Joe, he barely knew anything about boxing to begin with. "Is that how you became interested in boxing?"
"Kinda," Sakakura quickly answered almost like he was trying to change the subject midway. "My mom passed away before I even had object permanence, and my old man was pretty adamant about toughening me up before I even reached my teen years. Hell, he would even tell me about my mom's death until I was thirteen."
"That's awful!" the Ultimate Animator gasped.
"Don't patronize me, I don't need anybody feeling sorry for me," the Ultimate Boxer warned. Ryota tensed up and agreed to heed his warnings before he paid the price . "Any, that crazy old codger enlisted me in a ton of different boxing classes and made me train nonstop. He used to always tell me something: the most important part of a true man was his strength, above anything it was crucial to protect this piece of their existence no matter what."
Being that his parents divorced during childhood and spent a good portion of his life raised by his mother, Ryota could still somewhat relate to having an overbearing father, but probably not to the extend that Sakakura did. "What did your dad think qualifies as being a true man?"
"Well, according to him the golden rule of being a man was to never show any emotion and always concealing your feelings, to him those were hindrances that showed weakness."
Ryota had his doubts on that mentality of denying feelings for the sake of being considered a "man", the ability to feel a plethora of different emotions at different times seemed like a vital part of being a human. It was about then where he inexplicably started reminiscing about Gozu, whom he considered the second toughest person in the Future Foundation, he didn't have any reluctance speaking on his feelings and stayed strong throughout everything. The motivating speech that he once gave before his death was something permanently ingrained in his mind and remember that this killing game would need to end for his sake.
To his surprise, Sakakura started speaking again. "Honestly, part of me wishes I never followed my dads order, I kinda hate him for that."
"You hate your dad? I was expecting you to admire him, don't you like being the Ultimate Boxer?" Ryota's eyebrows raised in surprise.
Sakakura nodded his head. "I do, but sometimes I just can't shake off the feeling that he probably took his advice too much to heart, otherwise maybe I wouldn't have been so ashamed to reveal my secret to Enoshima."
"Wait, if you really hate your dad then why do you have a framed photo of him on your wall?" Ryota realized.
Sakakura turned around and gave a confident smirk. "Because once the Tragedy finally ends, I'm gonna find that old man and personally kick his fucking ass."
Compared to some of his fellow peers in the Future Foundation, it certainly proved difficult to befriend someone like Sakakura Juzo due to his relatively cold and ruthless demeanor towards most people, save for Munakata, and it was even more difficult to cross him because of that said loyalty.
While the two were conversing, it really started to become apparent that Sakakura struggled to express his true feelings and would often refrain from speaking about how he truly feels, a possible remnant from his father's misguided teachings.
Perhaps someday Sakakura will be able to speak his mind and show his true feelings without having to hide behind a cruel demeanor?
All in all, Sakakura was the most feared man in the Future Foundation and for good reason. While the two had their conversation together, something really started to dawn on Ryota as they spoke.
All things considered, Ryota felt he grew a little closer to Sakakura.
A/N: After everything that happened in the last trial, I wanted to have a breather chapter where not too much really happens in terms of progressing the story, despite that, since this is another free time chapter I was able to finally touch upon another DR3 character's backstory, this time being Juzo.
Since Juzo was abandoned by Kyosuke in the last chapter, it only felt natural to have the next chapter focus on that and allowing him to have a chance to bond with Ryota. I feel that Ryota and Juzo have a pretty interesting dualism dynamic together, both of them had their lives ruined after meeting Junko, but they're both still different in terms of their contrasting personalities.
In this chapter my favorite part was that Juzo now has to be independent now that he's no longer associated with Kyosuke and getting the chance to interact with other characters since he was mostly solely with Kyosuke. Having an overbearing father that raised him to conceal his feelings was actually a headcanon I developed long back when DR3 first released, and I was more than happy to finally implement that into this fic.