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 3
Being that there were a bare minimum of options in the current circumstance, the safest choice by default was to simply to agree with Monokuma's terms and head to the conference room for further instructions. This part was unsurprisingly, never easy for Ryota.
A small part of him genuinely wondered what kind of motive Monokuma could even make at a time like this. The participants of this killing game were less naïve towards their situation compared to the ones from Hope's Peak Academy, so naturally things like revealing embarrassing secrets and money bribery weren't exactly enough to swayed into murdering.
If Ryota's speculation had any merit, that would mean there aren't too many options on Monokuma getting everyone to kill each other. What the would entail was totally beyond him, but one thing was for certain, anything that teddy bear was brewing up couldn't equal anything good.
When stepping into the room with Gekkogahara, they found that all the other participants of the killing game had already gathered together in the conference room. For some odd reason, it felt like they were always the last ones to arrive at these kinds of gatherings, obviously Ryota didn't harbor any of Naegi's luck talent.
The strangest thing about entering the room was Monokuma himself. He was dressed in another one of his ridiculous and nonsensical outfits. He wore a giagantic brown afro wig and a light blue button up shirt, in his paws he gripped a painting palette and paint brush.
"Welcome back, I'm certainly glad you could join us today..." the two-toned bear greeted in a bizarrely mellow voice. "Today, we're going to be drawing a beautiful mushroom cloud, let's start by running all the colors across the screen."
"I'm not exactly sure what to make of this." Kizakura smirked in amusement. "But, I kinda like it."
"Is this part of the motive?" Kimura asked, trying to figure out what was going on herself.
"Before we start I've already covered my 18x24 canvas with a thick even coat of the liquid white." Monokuma continued.
Ando sighed. "Again, he feels the need to waste time by starting with some annoying joke."
"You guys heard the announcement too, right?" Ryota nervously asked in attempt to change the subject. Being involved in these big gatherings were already rather overwhelming to him without having to deal with the next motive to the game.
"Well no shit, none of us would be standing here if we didn't hear the announcement." Ando retorted. "But what kind of motive are we getting this time?"
Kimura sighed. "Why do we need motive in the first place? At this point we have already lost four of our allies, are they even necessary to initiate a murder?"
"You're wrong about that!" Monokuma retorted, reverting back to his regular appearance again. "Motives are a crucial part for murders to start, otherwise you bastards would be content on spending time becoming confidants and growing together, almost like some kind of hurt, comfort story."
"You better not have any accomplices with you this time!" Ando barked. "I don't want to repeat another fiasco where Munakata is helping from behind the scenes!"
The Ultimate Student Council President nodded. "Then, you should be glad to know that I can assure you I'm not partaking in this motive in any way, I have already gained the appropriate knowledge needed with the last motive. What Monokuma has in store for the remainder of the killing game is a mystery for me as well."
"Yep! I'm not accepting any more help from you guys for the remainder of this killing game!" Monokuma giggled. "Otherwise, they would just end up like literal dead weight like Yukizome-san was!"
Ryota felt he was obviously saying that simply to provoke Munakata. The Vice Chairman seemed to take the bait since he stared at the bear with cold eyes, "...Don't ever say that name."
"Oops! I totally forgot that Munakata-kun goes off his rocker whenever somebody brings up his dead girlfriend!" Monokuma giggled, obviously not forgetting that in the slightest. "Maybe I'd better legally have her name changed."
"Enough with the bullshit, just tell us what your motive is already!" Sakakura angrily demanded.
"Yeah, the sooner you tell us what the stupid motive is, the sooner we can just avoid it!" Asahina added.
"Well, to preface, I'm genuinely surprised that you bastards have managed to survive this far without any of you guys setting off your forbidden action for several days and nights, that deserves an applause!" Monokuma brought up out of the blue. "Especially, Kizakura-kun, since most men usually depend on their left hand for specific purposes ."
Ryota and Sakakura both rolled their eyes at his annoying and tasteless comment. "But I digress, I'm going to offer you bastards a once in a lifetime opportunity to bypass the effects of your forbidden action and break the rules to your little heart's content!"
"A way to bypass the forbidden action?" Kirigiri questioned, Ryota couldn't help but notice that she seemed a little intrigued. Maybe it had something to do with her own forbidden action?
"What the hell are you talking about? When the killing game first began, you specifically said the bangles wouldn't be removed until the game ended." Ando reminded the bear.
"I lied," Monokuma bluntly stated, then he pulled out a small plastic bottle. "Ladies and gents, I present the newest motive — Cure W. It's a special drug, the effects are actually quite simple. Whoever drinks the potion will be allowed to counteract the effects of the bangles and break a rule without being injected with poison."
"Cure W? How is something like that supposed to be a motive?" Naegi wondered. "Doesn't this seem a little too easy?"
"Yeah, we're not idiots," Asahina commented. "All of us could easily just drink the potion to negate the poison and then end the killing game instantly!"
"Now that you mention it, that's right, that really doesn't even seem like much of a challenge." Sakakura realized. "If anything it just sounds like an easier way to end the killing game."
"Upupupu...I'm gonna have to stop you bastards in your tracks!" Monokuma laughed, something that made things far more foreboding. "The current drug I'm holding in my paw is no less than a decoy created for the sake of giving a presentation for the motive. Like I'd ever actually leave the actual Cure W out in the open for you bastards to use."
A potion that let them negate the effects of the poison sounded too good to be true. Ryota had his suspicions about the whole thing, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little tempted to drink the potion and see if it actually works, if proven successful then they may actually have a chance at beating the killing game.
"Why would you show us a fake potion and how exactly does this relate to the killing game?" Izayoi asked.
Gekkogahara sternly looked to the two-toned bear, already well aware of what this was going to lead to. "There's a catch isn't there?"
"Of course there's a catch! What did you actually think I would just hand you the potion with open arms on a silver platter? Where's the fun in that?" Monokuma stated amusingly. "The real Cure W has been stored somewhere safe inside this building.'
"And where would that be?" Munakata raised an eyebrow.
"Have you bastards heard of a place called the Monokuma Hunter: Death Chamber?" Monokuma asked. Ryota remembered seeing a big door with those exact words mentioned during his investigation. "It's a big chamber patented by yours truly! If you want the Cure W potion then you'll have to clear the chamber."
"That's all we really have to do?" Asahina gasped, "That doesn't really sound all that difficult."
"Don't misunderstand, the Monokuma Hunter: Death Chamber is by no means a cake walk!" Monokuma replied. "The death chamber is a deadly obstacle course that you can't escape until finishing. All participants are free to enter as many times as they'd like, but ...the only way to receive the Cure W is by completing the death chamber, and surviving."
Ryota gulped, of course there was no way that Monokuma would give them the opportunity to end the game without any struggle. Initially, he thought about going inside that death chamber since it would probably benefit them in the killing game, except now he was really starting to have second thoughts. Knowing Monokuma, the death chamber must be difficult to traverse, the only people that he could imagine succeeding are possibly Great Gozu or Munakata.
For obvious reasons, Gozu wouldn't be able to help them, and the mere thought of Munakata stealing the Cure W potion and hiding it from the rest of the participants scared him to death.
"If that's true, wouldn't that mean the Cure W potion can just be acquired the next time you restock?" Kimura wondered.
"No! No! No! I won't ever restock! The death chamber doesn't work like that! It's a first come first serve policy! Ergo: once someone wins the obstacle course and receives the Cure W potion there won't be any more left!" Monokuma yelled.
Ryota started thinking about some of the other possibly ways they could bypass this. Perhaps if someone participated in the death chamber and managed to secure the Cure W potion without any problems, they could bring it back here and allow the eleven of them to have a small dosage that could negate their bangles. If that worked, then wouldn't that mean the killing game could end?
The two-toned bear proceeded to turn his back to the others. "Oh, another thing that I should probably fill you guys in on ahead of time...the Future Foundation has a very strict no sharing policy , once somebody drinks the Cure W they won't be allowed to share it with anyone else, otherwise they'll both be injected with poison."
"Let me get this straight, you created a potion that can counteract the effects of the bangle, but you only made one and sharing it with someone else will set off a forbidden action?" Sakakura asked. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Ryota agreed with that, suddenly he was starting to notice how something like this could initiate another murder from happening, not to mention, Monokuma obviously just made up that whole "no sharing policy" on the fly to prevent anyone from breaking any of his rules and make things more difficult for them.
"Was Monokuma actually telling the truth about this potion or was it simply a bluff?" Kimura shyly questioned.
"Who knows?" Ando shrugged with a groan. "The only way we'll be able to figure something like that out if by having someone actually check inside the death chamber to see if this Cure W stuff is real."
"Alright, but exactly who's going to do something like that?" Kizakura wondered, his sly eyes briefly jerked over to Munakata. "I'm not pointing any figures, but let's just say, not all of us our the most trustworthy people. Hell, even I'm in that category."
Kirigiri nodded. "That's true, there's always the off chance that someone could just steal the potion and use it for themselves. A single potion that can negate the poison in our bangles creates temptation in our minds, followed by a desire to want to escape this building, clearly that was Monokuma's intention with this motive."
"Monokuma just wants us to betray each other again," Gekkogahara added. "He's giving us an opportunity to bypass the effects of the bangles at the cost of throwing everyone else under the bus, this motive can't be trusted."
"Then what should we do about the Cure W potion?" Ryota asked the group in hope for some answers. "It could be a valuable asset to have in our possession, but at the same time, it's a huge gamble to sacrifice everyone's lives just to save one person."
"I don't think we should do anything about it," Gekkogahara answered. "As a matter or fact, it's better that we just ignore the death chamber all together, let's not even see it as a viable option of escaping this building."
"Yeah, I don't really like the idea either. Everyone should have the chance to safely get out of this killing game and not just one person." Naegi replied.
"It should also be taken into account that Monokuma has constantly tried steering us all into the wrong direction in the past, now definitely wouldn't be any different. It's always probable that this Cure W potion doesn't even have capabilities to bypass the effects of the bangle." Kirigiri remarked. "It's better that everyone stay away from the death chamber."
For the most part, Ryota could mostly buy into the idea of everyone cooperating together and agreeing to leave the Cure W potion alone, the only person that he genuinely couldn't believe was capable of doing that was Munakata. Ever since Yukizome died he's been endlessly talking about his intentions to survive the game no matter who he would have to sacrifice and is now handed the opportunity to cheat his way through the game and betray the others.
The fact that Munakata already had combat experience meant that he would be a shoo-in to win the death chamber. Ryota looked over to the Ultimate Student Council President who didn't say a word about the matter, which only worried him more since this may mean he was potentially be secretly plotting something .
Perhaps it was just the paranoid side of Ryota, but suddenly he wished to the strength to defend himself and protect others from Munakata, maybe that would help them prevent him cooperating with Monokuma again.
All that investigating the newest floor in addition to learning more the motive admittedly had taken a lot out of Ryota and he didn't really feel in the mood to do anything else, not like they really could do much at the moment, waiting patiently for the Future Foundation to rescue them were the only feasible options of escaping for now.
There was also the fact of being cautious of Munakata's actions that made Ryota fearful of traversing the building after hearing the next motive. Ryota decided the best option was to probably just head to the dormitory for the remainder of the evening and patiently wait for the next day to come, obviously not the most entertaining option, but it was much better than actively participating in the game.
On his way back to the dormitory he passed the big door that apparently lead to the death chamber that he encountered with Gekkogahara a little earlier, it was actually a little funny, back when Ryota first encountered this door he felt a little confident and had high hopes that perhaps a clue to ending the game could be found inside that door, only to have that hope shattered into millions of pieces.
The Monokuma Hunter Death Chamber was mocking him everytime he thought about it. Ryota had finally been given the chance to end the killing game and finally save everyone, but Monokuma and his brutal rules prevented them from progressing.
For some inexplicable reason, in Ryota's head he started thinking about the hidden weapons room — the same room that Yukizome took the sleeping gas grenade and the Chairman took the chuusen. Then it got him thinking, what if he were to use one of the weapons in that room to challenge the death chamber?
Maybe he could secure the Cure W potion, drink its contents, and figure out a way to end the game and find an exit to this place? Of course, the flaw in that was that Ryota lacked any combat experience and could very easily get himself killed, his division in the Future Foundation didn't even specialize in that field.
It was probably reckless to think about that without alerting the others and he chalked his desires up to being tired and decided to rest at the nearest dormitory, lucky for him, there was one already located on this floor which saved him the trouble of having to use the elevator.
Again, his dorm room was already stocked with the essentials toiletries and black suits to wear. While the decor was slightly different, it wasn't really enough for Ryota to care, tossing himself right into bed and letting himself drift off into his pleasant world of escapism.
Hours must have passed after being in such a deep sleep. Ryota vaguely remembered having a dream about his childhood, the more innocent days were somehow enough to keep him going through all this madness, in addition to bonding with Gekkogahara.
Then completely out of nowhere, Ryota heard a knock on his door. It was almost like being awakened by an alarm clock, it proved enough for him to instantly open his eyes to his own dismay. He didn't exactly know who could possibly be at the door at this hour, but whoever it was, something seemed amiss .
Why would someone be knocking on his door so late at night? Could it be...was someone trying to murder him? Ryota thought about the motive that Monokuma gave to them, but it would really make sense why someone would try to kill him of all people. Was he somehow a threat to the game?
For reasons that even Ryota couldn't quite understand, he found himself scurrying to the door to find out who this person could be and proceeded to open the door. He began thinking about how maybe his imagination was just running wild under all the stress. Maybe it was actually Gekkogahara or someone else coming to talk to him?
Upon opening the door he found that the person who knocked was someone he expected the least. It was Munakata who patiently stood at the door all by himself, having an empty scabbard did nothing to make him feel less intimidating. "Munakata-san, what are you doing here!?"
"Calm down," the Ultimate Student Council President firmly said, placing a hand over his mouth to prevent him from letting out a scream for help. "If you're concerned about me killing you, then don't . I have no intention of committing a murder right now. I'm only here to talk."
As Munakata relinquished his hand, Ryota took a deep breath before standing back and "allowing" the man to enter his dormitory. For safety precautions, he decided to leave the door wide open just in case this was a trick to get murdered, as there would now be witnesses. Ryota rubbed his eyes and yawned. "What time is it?"
Munakata blinked before looking around the room. "The last time I looked at a clock, it was roughly about half passed one in the morning, but forget about the time, there are far more important matters to speak about right now."
"But couldn't something like this wait until morning?" the Ultimate Animator asked.
"No, it couldn't wait until morning." Munakata denied. "The topic that I am about to discuss with you is extremely important and was something I could not explain with the other division leaders present, it's something that I shall keep between the two of us."
Rather than actually giving an explanation for why he dragged Ryota out of bed during midnight, he decided to show him with action. Munakata reached into the pocket of his white blazer and brought out what appeared to be some kind of small plastic card before handing it over to Ryota to examine himself.
It looked like an official Future Foundation membership card. Ryota hadn't seen one of these in ages and assumed that the mastermind confiscated all of theirs when the game first began, this card in particular had Yukizome's name and information on it.
Ryota couldn't even believe what was in his hands right now, it was something he never thought would be seen ever again. If memories serves these membership cards had the ability to access every room in headquarters, almost like a key card. "This is...Yukizome-sensei's Future Foundation ID card. Where did you find this?"
"I've had this in my ownership for a while now, I first found the card in Yukizome's office when Monokuma unlocked all the new floors." Munakata explained. "I spent all morning investigating her office because I wanted to make sure she was actually a traitor, but I couldn't find anything, except for her ID card. I would assume it's capable of opening all locked rooms ."
Ryota had his doubts about this being true, after all the struggles they faced it seemed unlikely that a stroke of luck would happen like this. "Is this really gonna work?" he asked after eyeing the card a few more times. "I mean, we're in a decoy building created by the mastermind. The ID cards were designed specifically for Future Foundation headquarters."
"I highly speculate that Yukizome had been using this keycard during her endeavors as traitor and placed it there before her death." Munakata deduced. "If that's true, then the ID card should be able to successfully open any locked door in this hoaxed building."
Ryota couldn't believe what was going on. There's a chance to uncover the mysteries of this killing game and finally end everything, and it was right there in his hands. This felt almost too good to be true, like he was going to wake up from a dream any minute. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"It's no secret that none of the division leaders can trust me anymore," Munakata replied. "Mitarai, even you can't trust me anymore. I've decided to allow you to hold onto this ID card and use it to your content, it's in much better hand if it's not with in my posession. Keeping it with me puts myself at the risk of being attacked and having it stolen."
Ryota tried handing the card key back to Munakata, except he openly refuses to have it. "If Monokuma finds out about this we'll be in a lot of trouble. He'll probably have us injected with poison and—"
"Monokuma isn't going to find out about this." Munakata interrupted him before completing the sentence. "I'm sure he already knows about our conversation anyway. I can't imagine what Monokuma—or the mastermind, is planning for this killing game, but something tells me that uncovering the mystery behind this game won't hinder that plan in any way."
Ryota stared at the ID card for an extended period of time. He partially felt this was likely a trap by Munakata — giving him this item that could potentially break rules in the killing game to get him executed by Monokuma wasn't too far fetched, but everything that Munakata was talking about felt so authentic.
"Mitarai, I've been watching you since the beginning, in the last two trials I have seen everything that you have done to uncover the truth just like Naegi did once at Hope's Peak Academy, despite the odds you never had to rely on false platitudes." Munakata recalled.
He began walking closer to Ryota, which in turn made him feel very uncomfortable, causing him to step back a few feet. "I know that you don't want to die, Mitarai. If you were to cooperate with me in ending this killing game and creating true hope , I would have no qualms with allowing you to survive the game."
Allowing him? Ryota didn't exactly like the sound of that. It's true that he wanted to survive the killing game, but was this really the right way? "Mitarai, your task is quite simple. If you assist me in creating true hope and overthrowing this killing game, I'll help you survive. Based on what Monokuma said, the game will end once three participants survive, meaning: you , Gekkogahara, and myself could be the ones who walk away from this unharmed."
"I can't do that!" Ryota defended without much hesitation. "There's no way I could just betray everyone else like that! I'd rather be trapped in this building forever if it meant sacrificing everyone else."
"I was expecting that kind of reaction, obviously you're still quite naïve," Munakata sighed. "Perhaps you need some time to think about this, until then, I'll allow you to hold on to the ID card."
After that, Munakata went on his way and disappeared into the dark hall. Ryota took that as an initiative to close the door (not before locking it, again ) and rushing straight back into bed. He tossed the ID card onto the night stand and decided to pretend it didn't exist for the time being.
Despite the proposal that Munakata gave or the potential stigma of holding onto the ID card, it did feel like one of the rare occasions where it appeared they were given the upper hand in this killing game. Ryota still couldn't shake off the feeling that something terrible was on the horizon despite that.
During the conversation, Munakata mentioned that learning the big mysteries of the game won't anything that the mastermind has planned. What exactly does that mean? The only thing that Ryota could imagine is that there's a much bigger plan on their mind that may not simply relate to the killing game.
A/N: Now that the investigation for the next floor has finally come to its closing it's finally time to unveil the next motive of the game, which is actually probably one of my favorite motives that I've made thus far. In the anime, the Cure W potion only serves the purpose of letting Kyoko come back to life after being poisoned, I really wanted to explore more of its potential.
I really like the idea of the Cure W potion being a motive since it invokes temptation in the minds of the chracters and the potential to betray one another. The Monokuma Death Chamber is nod to the killing game in the DR3 anime, I wanted to feature the survival game at least once in this story.
Another part I really enjoyed was the tail-ending where Kyosuke gives Ryota a key card that can access to some locked rooms in the building. As mentioned in the chapter, he found it back in Chapter 14 in Chisa's office but kept it concealed from Ryota and Miaya.
One thing I really want to condone is the struggle between whose idea of hope Ryota should follow. While does see Makoto as a friend and wants to continue following him, Kyosuke slowly has started to convince him that his "hollow platituides" aren't working in the killing game.