Danganronpa: Prisoner Havoc - Prologue
Part II
From the corner of his eye, he caught the familiar sight of Sayaka and Byakuya walking towards the other side of the prison. "Hey guys. Had any trouble with our cellmates?"
"So far…? Not really." Sayaka replied with a brief amount of hesitation, indicating to him that she was probably trying to be nice.
"Hmph," Byakuya let out, which told him all that he needed to know. "Annoyances after annoyances… Even you, Amami, are practically good company compared to them."
"Thanks." Rantaro said dryly, trying not to dwell on that particular insult. "One of the people I released - the girl you just passed - noted that we're the only ones that have a key and… Yeah, you get where I'm going with this."
Sayaka's eyes widened in disbelief at the implication. "What? They think we're involved in their imprisonment?"
"She doesn't, for a… religious reason, but others might." He stated grimly, crossing his arms in mild frustration if only because it did make sense. It was a very cynical and paranoid conclusion to reach, but considering the circumstances… Could he really blame them?
'Hell… Didn't Mukuro believe that was who we were? I thought it was just her being paranoid, but… I guess I was wrong.'
The Togami heir merely pushed up his glasses and smirked. "I'll deal with those commoners as they come - a Togami can't be concerned with the opinions of sheep after all. But for now, don't we have a job to do?"
"...You're right," Rantaro admitted with a small sigh, seeing what he meant underneath the bluster of superiority. "We can't exactly do anything about it, so might as well deal with the aftermath later."
"I guess," Sayaka said, biting her lip in concern. "I just don't like it. It feels like we're playing into someone's hands."
"We probably are," he replied, making her look at him in surprise. "But until we find out who or what we're playing into, we'll have to roll with the punches so to speak."
"So with that uplifting statement out of the way… Are we going now or what?" Byakuya interrupted impatiently, tapping his foot against the ground.
"Yep," Sayaka easily replied, plastering a smile on her face like nothing was wrong. She seemed quite good at it, he noted with mild concern.
'I hope she's alright… She's probably not used to this kind of pressure like me and Byakuya are.'
"Well in that case, I'll see you two around. I probably still have a bunch of them to do myself so..." Rantaro said as he turned around to refocus on the task at hand, hearing Sayaka cheering goodbye and the half-hearted grunt of one from Byakuya.
Letting out a small sigh, for reasons he couldn't place, the adventurer glanced between the open door that Angie that had just left, the cell door that Byakuya was just now beginning to open with the distinct shout of…what seemed to be someone's name (Ibuki, he noted mentally), and the next one he had to do.
'Sayaka doesn't have any more cells to open then?' He wondered curiously as he shuffled along towards the door, and briefly knocked on the door, the metal loudly ringing underneath his knuckles.
"Who's there?" A feminine voice rose up from behind the doors, that seemed oddly out of breath. "You've come to let me out?"
"I am. Let me just open the door for you, okay?" Rantaro answered as he slid the key in the door.
"...Do you really have to be the one to let me out?" The girl on the other side said, suddenly sounding disdainful.
'How is it even possible to judge someone just from their voice?' The green-haired teen couldn't help but think incredulously, even as he answered. "Yeah, because unfortunately, I'm the only person to get a key that matches your cell."
As he finished unlocking the door, the door flung open with the force of a hurricane. Tumbling to the ground from the force, he fell right on his back with a thud, pain coursing through his body.
A fair-skinned girl with a green tinge to her long dark brown hair stood rather fiercely at the entrance to her cell. She was wearing a rather desaturated blue crop top with a frilly skirt, along with a large green floral-patterned pinwheel bow tying her hair up at the back.
She glared at him and pointed at him fiercely. "What are you up to then, you filthy degenerate?!"
"All I was doing was letting you out… I'm a prisoner just like you." Rantaro explained with a small grunt of pain as he lifted himself up from his fall.
"How do I know you're not lying?" The girl asked suspiciously, still keeping her arms raised combatively.
"My clothing." He stated simply, motioning to his rather dirty prisoner outfit, feeling rather thankful that he hadn't bothered to change his clothes… It was saving him from a lot of hassle, to say the least. "Would I really be wearing this if I was the jailer?"
She looked him over with narrowed eyes before harrumphing. "I guess you wouldn't be, true."
'I am taking what I can get.' He decided mentally, before continuing on with what he had to say. "...Anyway, my name is Rantaro Amami. What's yours?"
The green-eyed girl scowled, crossing her arms haughtily. "...I'm Tenko Chabashira, the Ultimate Aikido Master! And don't you forget it, before you think with your lower parts in regards to a girl!"
"What? Why would I even think of doing that?!" Rantaro couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, his usual calm briefly shaken by the statement.
"Because you're a male, and I know for a fact that is the only part that you think with in regards to girls." Tenko stated confidently, nodding to herself in satisfaction.
He blinked once.
Twice.
'...I just can't get worked up about this.' He thought to himself, feeling something in him just sort of… snap. "Well, we're all meeting up at that table in the middle of the courtyard. So if you want to protect the girls there, feel free to go there."
Tenko seemed to practically jump to attention at that, only for her gaze to turn suspicious once more. "Wait… You're not trying to catch me in a trap, are you?!"
"No, I'm not." Rantaro replied tiredly, trying his hardest to not let that seep into his voice. He really did need a way for her to just… calm down… Maybe sincerity would work? "Look, Tenko, I'm seriously not trying to trick you. Just trust me on that, okay?"
Tenko had a torn expression on her face, before she relented with a small sigh. "Fine… You might be a degenerate male, but you seem to be honest… And you did let me out, which has to count for something."
"Thank you." The adventurer said with a small nod. It was probably the most charity he'd ever get from her, and he was going to take it. "I've got more people to let out, so I'll be seeing you around."
Rantaro was almost impressed with how her face contorted at the thought, if it wasn't so mildly depressing. He only hoped it was only whatever hangups she had, instead of… Well, him.
As Tenko marched towards the table with a surprisingly nervous expression, he caught sight of Sayaka looking somewhat worriedly at him, seemingly hiding behind one of the pillars that held up the second floor that they couldn't reach yet.
"Oh, hey," he greeted her with a smile, genuinely happy to finally see someone that seemed just a tiny bit normal.
The bluenette glanced him over with analytical eyes for a brief silent pause, before frowning in concern. "That girl did a number on you, didn't she?"
"I've been worse," the green-eyed boy shrugged, brushing off his clothes. He definitely needed to change as soon as he was done... "And she does have a good reason to be wary, let's be honest here."
"I guess. I didn't really realize how lucky I was with who I had to let out. Everyone just seems so… volatile." Sayaka whispered with an uncertain look on her face, biting her lip hesitantly. It felt a little unsettling to see a girl who'd been so lively before, look like she'd lost her cheer. He was really starting to hate this place... "I'm probably being a bit unfair, though…"
Rantaro grimaced, knowing that these problems were only about to get worse. He desperately hoped he was wrong, but… Experience had told him that hope was a fool's game. "We're only a bunch of teenagers and yet we're being imprisoned, with who knows what on the horizon… It's a wonder that nobody's gotten hurt yet."
'Besides me, of course… Not that these bruises are much compared to what could've happened.' He thought darkly, unable to resist the cynical thoughts as they rose.
"Maybe… I'm confident though." The idol interrupted, looking at him with a bright-eyed look that surprised him to his very core.
"...Why?"
"Because… You, Byakuya… The others… You're all special in some way, and you're all capable of doing great things. I'm not anything particularly special, not on my own, but you guys… You're something else entirely." She said, something… strange in her voice that he couldn't pinpoint. A positive emotion but… He didn't know what. Or maybe he just couldn't understand it.
Letting his thoughts fall by the wayside, if only for a moment, the adventurer let out a small chuckle, for some reason feeling far better about himself. "Don't sell yourself short. That speech of yours was something else."
"Don't say that… It was nothing." Sayaka quickly replied in embarrassment, ducking her head in an attempt to hide her blush.
Rantaro snorted in laughter, shaking his head - she was far too cute for her own good sometimes. She reminded him of his sisters, in a good way. With that thought in mind, he attempted to think of a way to mercilessly tease her… Only for the tablet in his trouser pocket to vibrate.
"We should probably look at that," he stated reluctantly, not really wanting the surprisingly cozy atmosphere to end.
"I guess…" The bluenette agreed with a nervous bite of her lip, seemingly just as unwilling as he was.
Turning on the tablet in his hands, he was greeted with that same creepy red eye from earlier, that resonated in his mind for some reason, with the timer flashing for thirty minutes. 'I'll have to admit, that was a bit anticlimactic.'
Sayaka notably let out a sigh of relief, as she ducked her device under her arm. "I thought it was something… more worrying."
"Yeah… So did I." The adventurer agreed, shoving the tablet unceremoniously into his pocket. "Anyway… You want to accompany me on opening these last few cells or do you want to get to know our fellow cellmates some more?"
"Are you sure about being on your own?" she replied with a small, teasing smile. "You seem to have a bad habit of getting hurt."
"I mean… It's not that bad…"
The girl's lips quirked even higher, seemingly finding joy in poking his statement apart. "You've gotten attacked twice, the last two times we've met up. That's a two for two ratio."
"Hmm… You might be onto something there, you know." He admitted jokingly, with a smile. She had a knack for making people feel better, didn't she? "Makes me wonder if you're the one at fault for that."
Sayaka seemed somewhat surprised by the accusation, even momentarily making her smile drop off her face. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, it's obvious… You cursed me." Rantaro stated with mock seriousness, watching as her eyes widened in horror if only for a second, only for it to be replaced by a pout when she caught his grin. 'This is far too easy.'
"Rantaro…! You almost got me there." The idol complained, sounding disappointed in herself for not having caught him.
He let out a small chuckle at her reaction, even though he felt… Like something was wrong about this. "Ah well… Better train up that intuition of yours, then you might have caught me out."
Sayaka merely shook her head, though he reckoned she wasn't that mad, going by her smile. "You're lucky that I've been having an offday, right about now."
He snorted humorously, almost ready to continue the banter. Almost. "Well… I've got cells to unlock, so are you coming? Or does Byakuya still need you?"
The idol briefly stopped to consider it for a moment, before eagerly nodding. "I'll come with you - Byakuya told me somewhat bluntly that he didn't need me anymore anyway."
Rantaro only winced in response, not really knowing what to say in response to that. 'For someone who wants to be a leader, dude has a bad habit of alienating people, doesn't he?'
Seeing his face, Sayaka smiled shakily. "I doubt he meant anything hurtful by it. He was just… Being Byakuya Togami."
"That excuse isn't going to hold up much longer," he said, shaking his head. "He's lucky that we're not the types who get violent at that sort of stuff."
"I don't think you're alone on that. One of the people he saved, Mahiru, basically took him to task about his rudeness… Verbally I mean. Though I'm not so sure if it was out of a genuine feeling of being insulted or more of an instinctual thing for her." She replied, tapping her chin in thought.
"The red-haired girl with freckles?" Rantaro guessed, continuing when he saw his companion nodding in confirmation. "At least someone is willing to call him out on it."
"I guess…" Sayaka bit her lip, as if she didn't want to say something. He almost wanted to prod her about it, only for his attention to be drawn elsewhere…
Notably by the distinctive high-pitched sound of metal scratching along the concrete flooring, the door that he was supposed to be unlocking, slowly drifting ajar.
"...Rantaro? Isn't that meant to be one of yours?" The idol asked with a distinctive tense hitch of her voice.
"Yes." He replied tersely, feeling a strange sort of tension mounting in his body, encouraging him to move forward instead of stopping him in his tracks. "I guess we might not be the only ones with a key for the cells."
Sayaka didn't offer a reply, only looking at the ajar door with a mixture of apprehension and fear. He didn't blame her, if he was being honest… Hell, he wasn't entirely sure why he didn't feel the same way.
Moving forward with a confidence that he wasn't sure was entirely natural, the adventurer grabbed the door and pulled it open. He didn't quite know what he'd been expecting, but it was almost assuredly not this.
A distinctly buxom girl with blue, notably teary eyes and blonde hair stood in the room, brandished a broken wrench-ish looking thing, made from seemingly the legs of the bed - that was now decidedly crooked. She was wearing a pink sailor student uniform and skirt, along with a distinctive pair of brown goggles with yellow accents on her head.
"Are you okay?" Rantaro hesitantly asked, torn between wanting to see what was wrong with her and trying to be ready for whatever could come and get him this time.
"Wha-?" The blonde asked in surprise, looking at him with a genuinely tearful face. "Of course not, dipshit! M-my ingenious tool for escaping this shithole just broke!"
"Ah," the green-eyed boy elected to say, after a brief moment. "That's rather unlucky… But at least it worked, right?"
"Pah!" She retorted dismissively, somewhat thankfully seeming to get out of her rut. "Anything that breaks upon being used is utter garbage… Especially when it's made by me! Miu motherfucking Iruma!"
'...At least I got her name, which is better than nothing.' He reflected with no small amount of sarcasm.
"Uh, Rantaro? Everything alright in there?" Sayaka called from the doorway, peeking her head inside with a hesitant expression.
"It isn't actually, Blueberry Tits! I just broke one of my inventions!" Miu retorted vulgarly before he could respond.
Letting a small exasperated sigh escape from his lips, the adventurer briefly turned his head to nod at her. "Yeah… It's fine."
"Yo? Why the fuck are you two chumps just ignoring me? You're ignoring the goddamn star of the show here, especially you, Shittaro." The blonde girl with goggles on her head interrupted rudely, her hands on her hips.
Rantaro ignored the insult with practiced ease, briefly brushing his hair away from his eyes as he turned his gaze towards her. "Look, Miu, we're just here to help you. Try to be a bit nicer, okay?"
"I uh…" Miu briefly stammered, seemingly caught off-guard by his statement. "Sure?"
"Alright," he continued in mild stupefaction at the success of his words. He didn't even want to know what was going through her head if he was being honest. "Name's Rantaro Amami, and she's Sayaka Maizono, and we were originally here to let you out but… It seems you managed that on your own."
"With a pathetic piece of shit of an invention… Don't exactly have the right materials here, anyway." The blue-eyed girl responded, somewhat more calmly then before. "So, what the fuck do you want then? I'm not up for a threesome, not yet anyway."
'...Did she really have to add that?' He thought to himself, only to take a brief glance at her desk where he spotted a disturbingly shaped object that he really wished he couldn't recognize. 'Okay, she did apparently.'
"Just to tell you that we're all gathering around the table in the courtyard." Sayaka stated, sounding for once, unimpressed. He'd legitimately never heard her like this, it was… oddly frightening if he was being honest.
"That's it? You guys made all of that racket for a fucking playdate?" Miu stated bluntly, a glare settling onto her features. "Why the hell would I want to go to something like that?"
"Cause in twenty-ish minutes something's gonna happen," Rantaro replied easily, brushing off her anger. "And do you really want to be on your own when that very much possibly dangerous event happens?"
"Pff… As if anything here could harm me, the Ultimate Inventor! Maybe you cucks could be, but not me." The rude girl harrumphed dismissively.
"What exactly are you going to use to defend yourself though? You don't exactly have the best of stuff to make anything with in this place, do you?" Rantaro replied, crossing his arms firmly. 'I'd honestly leave her to her own devices as my first choice, but I've got a bad feeling about that timer. It's for the best if we stick together if possible, when it does tick to a close.'
"Why are you being so insistent about this shit?" Miu snapped irritatedly, with narrowed brows as she stared at him. After a brief stare-off, the girl frowned reluctantly, seemingly relenting. "Fine… Fucking hell, I'll go to that weird ass fucking playdate of yours."
"Thank you, Miu." The green-haired boy replied with a sincerity he wasn't even sure he had in him. Maybe he was just relieved that he was finally getting this job over with, nearly at least? "That's literally all I'm asking."
"Pff… You're lucky that I wanted to introduce myself anyway. Those pathetic losers need to see my brilliance for themselves after all, not hear it second hand from you two jack-offs." The inventor waved off dismissively, as she began dumping her tools into some sort of weird-looking metallic toolbox that seemed oddly stretchy.
'Is she really gonna try and pretend she'd planned this all along? And what is with those insults?' Rantaro couldn't help but think in stupefaction, as he turned on his heel and left the room with an almost glad hop to his step. 'This girl is going to be a headcase, isn't she…? At least she seems to be genuinely a genius, if nothing else.'
"Well… That was pleasant, wasn't it?" Sayaka quietly commented, glancing back at the door they'd just left with a disgusted look.
"Kinda contradicts your speech to a degree." The adventurer idly commented, raising his hands placatingly upon seeing her glare. "Sorry. I'll shut up now, promise."
"No, don't," Sayaka shook her head, with a small frown. "You're sort of right, after all."
"I was only joking..." He stated honestly, not particularly sure why he was even bothering to defend the overly rude blonde. "Underneath all of the vulgarity… Miu is a genius and worthy of her title. We just have to look at that plainly open door to know that."
The idol's brow furrowed in thought at the statement, her frown deepening almost imperceptibly.
'I think I'll just let her digest that for a while…' The green-haired adventurer thought as he caught sight of Byakuya waiting for them, his foot tapping impatiently as he leant on one of the walls between the final two locked doors.
"Amami, Maizono." The prodigy greeted them with an odd, almost frustrated tone to his voice. "Seems our paths have finally crossed once more."
"Well… You're the one that's been waiting for us," Rantaro replied, with a raised eyebrow. "Any reason behind that?"
"I was merely wondering if I should get involved in whatever that is," the heir said bluntly, pointing his meaty finger to the now shut door, that looked somewhat off-hinges from Miu's break out. "But it seems that has been resolved, and you are both seemingly unharmed."
"Were you concerned for us?" Sayaka asked jokingly, some life seeming to return to her melancholic features.
Byakuya merely snorted at the thought, pushing his glasses upwards. "Only in so much that I wish to protect assets that I am invested in."
"Yeah… You were worried." Rantaro commented idly, feeling a small grin rise upon seeing their unofficial leader glare at him. "Nice to know that our leader has a heart."
"Witticisms are not your forte, Amami, so I'd recommend you stop." The heir retorted, turning with a small huff of irritation towards the cells. Rantaro rolled his eyes at the prickliness, but nonetheless decided to remain silent.
"These two cells doors are similar to Mukuro's, in terms of security." Sayaka noted, some hesitation floating into her voice. "I'm not saying that we should start pre-judging, but…"
"Ryoma, Miu and Tenko also had the same door design," Rantaro replied, crossing his arms and shrugging nonchalantly. "It's only a trick to make us more paranoid than we already are - make us fear whatever is on the other side."
"Are you really sure that they aren't dangerous?" Byakuya demanded neutrally. "You've barely talked five minutes to them."
"Anyone has the capability of being dangerous - you of all people should know that, Byakuya." Rantaro answered, an unhappy frown on his lips as he stared at the blue-eyed prodigy, who seemed too deep in thought to meet his gaze. "Judging people on a door is the stupidest thing we could do right now."
"To be fair, Rantaro… It is an indication of something." Sayaka said urgently, glancing between the two of them with a worried look on her face. "We shouldn't judge them based on this, but we can't entirely ignore it either, can we?"
'That is what whoever put this in this place wants. They want it to influence our decision making, and divide us for no real reason besides paranoia.' He thought with no small amount of alarm, silently gnashing his teeth in frustration. 'Dammit… I can't reveal any of that though. I'd just be causing more harm, especially if whoever put us here is with us… Which is unfortunately quite likely.''
"Rantaro?" The idol continued with a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied shortly, trying to hide his turbulent thoughts with a shrug. "Just lost in thought, that's all."
"You have a bad habit of doing that, Amami." Byakuya stated bluntly, cutting in about as smoothly as a dinner knife through jungle wood.
Rantaro couldn't help but snort in response, shaking his head in exasperation. Yeah, he was the only one that had done that in the past few minutes… "My bad, I guess."
"Let's get going then, right?" Sayaka reminded them with a small frown, as she looked between the two of them concernedly. "That timer is still ticking, you know. And the two of you still have two people to unlock."
"No need to remind me, Maizono… I'm well aware of what I am doing." Byakuya retorted with a faintly annoyed look, that eventually settled on him. "No point in delaying, Amami… Let's do this."
Rantaro only nodded in return before moving towards his door, not particularly in the mood for much banter at this point, with Sayaka looking somewhat dejected as she stood outside, seemingly intent on waiting for them and whoever lay inside the cells.
This place, this prison… It was getting into his mind, and he needed to focus his mind on what was in front of him. 'Ultimately… It doesn't matter if it is what they intended to occur, I'm going to have to deal with whatever happens when it happens. I'm just going to go insane otherwise.'
With that in mind, he lightly tapped himself on his cheek and refocused. He once again, and for the last time, put his key in the lock and twisted. The door opened with a small metallic click and he gently pushed it open, quickly stepping away from it. Just in case.
"I've come to let you out, and I'm not one of the jailers. I'm a prisoner just like you." Rantaro stated somewhat warily.
"And… How do I know you're not lyiiinnng?" An oddly childlike voice sung, dragging out the last syllable.
"You don't," Rantaro elected to say, having a feeling that he was entering a world that he wasn't all that prepared for. "You're going to have to take a leap of faith."
"Sounds kinda dangerous..." The boy on the other side wondered aloud, sounding like he was mockingly thinking about it. "You know what? I'm going to stay in here."
'Well… That backfired.' The adventurer couldn't help but think exasperatedly, letting out a small sigh.
"Juuust kidding!" He loudly exclaimed after barely a few seconds, the door suddenly being slammed open with a surprising amount of force.
A remarkably pale teenager with blackish purple hair stepped out of the cell, grinning with a pride that seemed eerily similar to when his sisters had committed some sort of 'crime' that they didn't want him to know about. He was wearing a completely white suit and pants with a checkered scarf.
"Aw… You didn't even scream in terror at my dynamic entry." The purple-eyed trickster muttered with disappointment that almost looked genuine, only for his expression to suddenly perk up. "But it seems that you believed that I wasn't about to come out!"
"Only for a moment," Rantaro admitted, feeling his wariness go up a notch.
"Well, I was lying. You should probably be more doubtful of what people say… Or don't, if you wanna make it easier on me." The small teen stated easily, putting his hands behind his head like he was talking about the weather.
He couldn't help but wonder if that last bit was a lie too, if only for a second. "I'll keep that in mind…?"
"Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader," Kokichi completed, grinning like a cheshire cat at him. "Don't worry about that last part though. My organization isn't that evil."
"Maybe. I'm not about to judge." The adventurer replied neutrally, deciding not to poke around that particular bit of inquiry for now, much to the leader's seemingly genuine disappointed look. "I'm Rantaro Amami, by the way. I'm the Ultimate Adventurer."
Kokichi nodded in contemplation for barely a brief second, before another lopsided smile rose to his face. "So… I guess you gotta have one of the keys if you were able to let me out."
"I do," He stated with a wary raise of his eyebrow, crossing his arms expectantly.
"So," Oma continued with a small flourish, as if he was pretending to be one of those weirdly flashy detectives in those cartoons. "You're probably working with whoever put us in here, right?"
Rantaro merely let out a tired sigh, remembering with distinct ease the encounter with Angie. "You can try to deduce what you want, Moriarty-"
"I guess not then!" Kokichi exclaimed enthusiastically, not even seeming to listen to him entirely, only for his eyes to perk up in suspicion. "Wait… What did you just call me?"
The adventurer gazed at the supreme leader for a moment, honestly feeling like he'd aged more than he'd ever had over the course of this one hour. "Moriarty. Thought it was fitting considering your whole shtick."
"You know… Nobody's ever given me a nickname before," the boy said tearfully, almost sounding genuine for a brief moment even as he exclaimed joyously. "That's so nice of you!"
"...You're welcome." Rantaro reluctantly replied, unsure if there was a catch or not. He glanced briefly behind him at Sayaka, who merely smiled encouragingly at him before turning her attention back to whatever Byakuya was doing.
"I'll forgive you for almost certainly being one of the mastermind's lackeys just for that." Kokichi continued, almost as if he'd never heard him at all. "Do you want anything from me then?"
'This really is gonna be a recurring problem, isn't it? Why couldn't they have just given everyone their own keys?'
"Just go to that table in the courtyard." The adventurer stated simply after putting his thoughts to the side for a while, thumbing the table behind him with a surprising amount of accuracy.
Kokichi looked at the table and let out a small yawn, even closing his eyes in what seemed to be boredom. "That's it? I thought you were gonna be a bit more exciting than that, Rantaro."
Rantaro shrugged, not really in the mood to spice it up more than necessary. "Sorry to disappoint you… Though whatever happens at the end of the timer on our handbooks should be of note to you."
The supreme leader cupped his chin, nodding along somewhat mockingly. "Maybe… I know that it'll be fun to see how everyone reacts to it, so I'm in!"
'...Well, I don't particularly mind why he wants to come, as long as he does it.' He attempted to rationalize that reaction, even as his concern for whatever Kokichi was going to do increased substantially with those words.
"Well, Rantaro… It was mildly terrible meeting you, but I gotta dash now." Kokichi continued, with a sly smirk on his lips. Rantaro surmised that he was probably lying.
"See you around," the green-haired teen replied carefully, watching as he departed with an oddly joyous skip to his step.
Rantaro let out a breath that he hadn't even known he'd been holding. This prison… The people inside it… It was all getting to be a bit much, if he was being honest. 'I have to keep myself firm and unwavering, however… I just can't show any weakness.'
He genuinely wished he could at times. It was getting exhausting having to be so… on guard, even with Sayaka and Byakuya, people who he felt mildly comfortable with.
'...Wait a second. Was the door that Byakuya had been unlocking always like that?
The green-eyed adventurer couldn't help but blink rapidly in confusion as he noticed the door to his left, the one that Byakuya had gone to unlock, actually began to fall off its hinges somewhat, slowly going sideways until the door didn't fit properly in the doorframe.
"Why is the door like that?" Rantaro asked curiously, turning towards the bluenette behind him with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh… I don't actually know." Sayaka admitted, looking mildly worried. "Whilst you were busy with Kokichi, and after Byakuya left with Nagito, it just started… Going off kilter until it was like that."
If anything, that just left him with more questions then before if he was being honest. "Do you think this Nagito person is the reason why?"
"Uh… Maybe?" The idol questioned, putting her finger to her chin in thought. "It is his door, after all, and it did happen after he left."
"Poor guy." Rantaro expressed sympathetically, wondering how much bad luck someone had to have to get a shoddily made door in a prison of all places. At least Miu had purposefully damaged her door, and could probably fix it if she wanted to. "Shouldn't we be going now? People are going to be waiting for us."
Sayaka flushed in embarrassment for a brief moment, before nodding. "Yeah… Let's go."
'Wait… Did she forget about it?' Rantaro realized with a start, glancing over his female companion analytically for a few seconds. 'She actually did… Wow.'
With that realization over, the green-haired teen briefly took the time as they approached the table, to have a once over of the prisoners that he hadn't met yet.
He didn't really get much of an opportunity to memorize any key aspects but he noted how each of them seemed distinctly nervous, with only a few exceptions, such as a bleach-white haired guy, Mukuro, Ryoma, Byakuya and Kokichi. He guessed that they were seemingly the ones with a better handle on their emotions then the rest of them...
"You two!" A fierce-looking guy with red eyes and short, spiky black hair yelled fiercely, pointing straight at them as he marched from his patrol around the table at them. "You've held up this class for over two minutes now!"
"Oh lay off, will you?!" A small blonde girl in a flowery orange kimono retorted just as loudly, seemingly having had enough. "You've been annoying as hell this entire time, and now you've somehow gone above and beyond that! And I don't know if you can't tell where we are, but we're in a prison not a school!"
"Come on, Hiyoko." The red-haired girl next to her (Mahiru, he guessed) said; with an imperious look directed at him in particular. "Kiyotaka is right - they have held us up."
"On doing what exactly?" Ryoma asked, his gravelly voice rising up from his shadowy position near a column.
"Yeah, we've all been invited here by whoever unlocked our cell," A pale girl with multicolored hair of black, white and pink exclaimed, before drooping. "Ibuki would've proposed that we start a concert, but we don't seem to have any instruments here…"
'Why does she want to start a concert?' Rantaro couldn't help but think in supefaction, simply watching the somewhat ridiculous byplay between everyone. He felt immensely thankful that Sayaka had decided to handle this Kiyotaka dude (if the low-talking from the former and occasional profuse apology on behalf of the latter were any indication), because he wasn't sure if his mouth (or mind) were willing to work right now.
"A concert? That sounds like a glorious celebration of all of your talents!" An unnaturally white-haired guy with a knee-reaching dark green coat expressed jovially. 'Your talents…?'
"Who the fuck wants a concert right now?!" Miu retorted bluntly, glancing up from her fiddling in her tool box.
"Settle down, everyone!" A rather incredibly muscular and tall man with black hair, and brown eyes declared strongly, electricity coursing from the corner of his eyes. "Byakuya wants to say something, and he can't with all of you shouting!"
Much to Rantaro's relief, it seemed that those somewhat intimidating words managed to quiet everyone down, if only for a moment. He didn't know if he could've handled any more of that, if he was being honest, and he considered himself a decently sociable person, so… It was safe to say that it'd been too much.
"Thank you, Nidai," Byakuya began with a small nod towards the large man, who reciprocated with his own firmer one. "I know that you're all confused, but we all need to calm down. If we want to get out of here, we're all going to have to work together-"
"Oh… Do we?" Kokichi interrupted, with the darkest grin Rantaro had ever seen on his face. It leaked pure malevolence and glee, like he was pleased with whatever he was plotting. "Because I know for a fact, that someone here is working for the person that trapped us in here."
'Oh no…' The adventurer couldn't help but think in dread, his mind racing through the possibilities and arriving at only one, even as the group started descending into furious whispers.
"How do you know anything of the sort?" Byakuya demanded irritatedly.
"Oh… It's only a bit of deduction on my part…" Kokichi drawled, counting his fingernails in what seemed like boredom. "Come on, everyone! It's so obvious."
"Cease your troublemaking," Mukuro said emotionlessly, staring down the purple-haired boy with an empty look. "You're speaking of things you have no concept of."
'Why is she only speaking up now?' Rantaro pondered, wondering what the hell was going through her head right now. Maybe he didn't want to know...
"Atua states that Kokichi actually is going somewhere with this, maybe we should listen to him…" Angie stated honestly, which he couldn't help but find suspicious if he was being honest.
"Boo-fucking-who, your imaginary friend is saying to listen to the little freak with his dumbass theories." Miu mocked viciously, seemingly not particularly impressed with the platinum-haired girl's religiousness.
"Better than listening to a horrible skank like you." Hiyoko interrupted with all the subtlety of a cruise liner leaving port and a rather nasty smile to boot, the red-haired girl by her side looking somewhat surprised by it.
'That was really mean…' He thought sympathetically, especially as Miu looked so genuinely shocked by the statement… And a tiny bit red in the cheeks for some reason. '...Nope. Not thinking about that.'
"Does it matter if he's right or not?" Byakuya stated bluntly, pulling all of the attention towards him once more. "We're all in this together, and we all genuinely want to be out of this place… Even I, a Togami, find it genuinely terrifying a proposition to keep staying here for any duration of time."
'Don't forget to mention who you are in your speech, check.' Rantaro couldn't help but snark, though he was genuinely impressed by the sincerity of the heir's words. Maybe he won't be that bad of a leader after all...
"Uh… I'm sorry to interrupt but..." A small girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes interrupted nervously, looking like she was barely two seconds away from crying as she looked up from her tablet. His heart almost broke upon seeing that expression, if he was being honest.
"What's up?" Rantaro raised his voice calmly, even as his ominous words tumbled out of his mouth. He didn't particularly know how he could word it better, to be honest. "Are we running out of time?"
"Y-yeah…" She replied with a small shattered breath, as if she was waiting to be absolutely piledriven for having said something… And to be honest, considering the atmosphere, he couldn't say that he blamed her. "We only have a-about… Ten seconds."
Almost like clockwork, the entire courtyard exploded into franticness and chaos, making him thank his lucky stars that he was away from the action. He began looking around the room, ignoring the panicked whisperings of the people around him, hoping that he'd catch a glimpse of whatever came along before it actually arrived.
An ominous, low robotic hum began to rise from above them, the blue sky fading into a horrible oppressive blackness. The sun disappeared entirely, and nothing replaced it, leaving them all in the dark. It grew louder and louder, drowning out any and all sound besides it, even as the Ultimates around him fell to their knees, holding their ears… Rantaro saw it.
It was barely a glimpse, as it moved faster than he could possibly keep up with… But he saw a flash of dark orange and blood red, tipped with a malicious black, burning through the black sky like a warning.
The invisible force descended downwards, as the hum slowly quieted down. The only light in the entire courtyard was its eyes, whatever it was. Its eyes leaked pure hatred, and for a brief moment, Rantaro thought he was dead. That this was all a massive, perverse joke, where they let everyone out to simply be killed by this entity.
A single noise sounded out throughout the courtyard, breaking the heavy silence that had arrived on them all. "Upupupu…"
It was a cold, mechanical, high-pitched laugh that leaked pure malice. A single light switched on from the right and the left, two lights landing on the formerly empty space in front of the table.
There stood a figure that could only be described as terrifyingly strange. A bear where their entire body was divided into two black and white halves. On the left, was the white side where it looked like a classic teddy bear… And on the right, was the black side, where a lone red, mechanical eye that leaked pure /-/*despair/-/* and a jagged smile that could only be described as joyous.
Rantaro's head began to burst from the pain, as something attempted to get to the surface, forcing him to… remember.
"It has been… So long since I've last done this." The bear said, as it slowly stood up, the red eye it bore looking at the kneeling Ultimates. "You're all so terrified of what is going to happen… All of this despair, all in one place, all brought along by my entrance..."
"W-what are you?" Sayaka interrupted, her terrified voice resonating in the silent courtyard.
"Don't any of you start." The bear warned, the red eye whirling silently in threat as it paused in consideration. "Well to be fair… Why delay? I've made everyone wait, have I not?"
"Wait for what?" Rantaro asked, staring at the anomaly in front of him like it was a mirage. This couldn't be real… It couldn't be.
The bear's jagged smile, impossibly, widened as if it'd always wanted the question. "I'll introduce myself first… My name is Monokuma! And I am here to serve as your warden for the remainder of your stay at this prison… Where your sentences are communal, and you all share the same one."
"How the hell does that work?" Miu whimpered loudly, the only voice to sound out in response to this claim.
Monokuma's entire being radiated pure malice. "Oh… It's very simple. You'll all be participating in a simple game. One that has been done multiple times before, one that has worked to perfection in punishing people like you."
The adventurer couldn't help but stiffen. He didn't know how he knew, or why, but the next words were burned into his brain, a terrifying set of words that he knew would irreversibly change them all.
"It's simple really! You have all been chosen to participate in the Killing Game!" Monokuma let out joyously, laughing the most bone chilling, high-pitched laugh he'd ever heard from any being. "The game where each and everyone of you will be tempted to kill and some of you will succumb to the basest of all instincts. To fight or to die… All to escape this prison that I've put you in. Oh how despairful it will be, when you all fall like the insignificant maggots that you are… I want to see it with all of my furry heart!"
Rantaro could only stare at the monster in front of him, a single thought going through his mind like wildfire, a painful realization that had been trying to get through this entire time. 'The Killing Game, I-I… I've been in one before… I've lived through this already… I'm not the Ultimate Adventurer. I was before, but now… I'm the Ultimate Survivor.'
Author's Note: It takes me a long while to write the chapters, so I've decided to open a Discord server, where you can hang out with me and see brief snippets of the current chapter, so that you can have hints as to what's going on, and know that I'm still alive and working on it.
Cause I do realize that dropping em like a bomb is uh... A long process, so I'm trying to make sure nobody forgets about the fanfic lol.
Invite Code: JVdvfSbCG8