Chapter 4: Clash, J-Stars! Part 5 (Daily Life)
Remaining Citizens: 11
Audience Member: Ryuji Sakamoto (Persona 5): Ultimate Track Star
Gauntlet Runners:
Team Dark Blue: Ai Mizuno (Zombie Land Saga): Ultimate Idol & Aoba Kuronuma (Durarara!): Ultimate Manipulator
Team Erica Mendez: Emma (The Promised Neverland): Ultimate Moral Compass & Bernadetta von Varley (Fire Emblem: Three Houses): Ultimate Recluse
Team J-Stars: Killua Zoldyck (Hunter X Hunter): Ultimate Assassin & Trunks Brief (Dragon Ball): Ultimate Swordsman
Team Silent, But Deadly and Loud & Proud: Gold (Pokémon Adventures/Pokémon Special): Ultimate Hatcher & Espio The Chameleon (Sonic The Hedgehog): Ultimate Ninja
Team WEB: Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse): Ultimate Successor & Yu Ishigami (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War): Ultimate Pessimist
Ai's POV
The rules of The Gauntlet were as follows:
When one person reaches the goal at Maru Stadium, the whole challenge ends. The winner receives the "Get Out of Trial Free" card for when they decide to kill.
Competitors have 30 minutes to complete their tasks, which they can still do after time is up, but they must avoid being brutally murdered by the Exisals.
You and your partner must complete them before moving on.
You must work together with the partner handcuffed to you, unless you want to saw your hand off, in which case do that if you want to go solo!
If the chains end up broken however, then the two separated competitors must be punished by the Exisals.
There are ten tasks in total needed for completion, which can be done in any particular order.
The challenge also ends when a competitor murders another person, although it still counts a victory if someone reaches the goal beforehand.
Have fun!
Have fun, huh? That'll be difficult since we're forced into some deadly game show and I'm attached to the most despicable person I have ever met.
"I know what you're thinking about, and no I have no current plans at the moment. Regardless, don't get in my way." Aoba informed me and I just sighed.
Once again, I have to be the one to keep an eye on him. Just hope he's telling the truth and that he won't pull a fast one on me.
"Ugh, this is gonna suuuuck…" Gold whined. You know, even if he'd be better than Aoba, he would not be a good partner to have. He's as reckless as Saki.
"Just deal with it, we've got no choice but to complete this thing." Killua rolled his eyes at him.
"He's right! Get through this and survive those Exisal things!" Emma raised her fist up in the air.
"Yeah… survive…" I heard Trunks mutter under his breath.
"Okay, what has been your problem lately?" I confronted the half-saiyan.
"It's nothing to worry about, let's just get going." Trunks brushed me off and walked towards the start line with Killua.
We really need a group session sometime after this, there have been so many people being secretive here that it's getting on my nerves.
The ten of us made our way to the starting line, as if this was like a weird marathon. It was then I realized that Monokuma left Ryuji out of this, probably because of his injury, but most likely due to how there is no one left to partner with him. He could have chosen to have three people stuck together to make things more interesting, yet I'm thankful that it did not happen to any of us. Although I am still wishing that I had a better partner.
"Achoo! Man, I didn't know there was pollen in this secluded city." Aoba sneezed into his arm.
"Hmph!" I heard Bernadetta turn away from him with disgust.
"What, no 'bless you'? You're all too cruel…"
"Go to hell." Ishigami bluntly said to Aoba.
The countdown then began as we all started to stretch. 10…9…8…
Gold pulled his goggles down, determined.
7...6...5…
Bernadetta fidgeted and Emma pat her on the back, giving her a knowing smile.
4...3...2…
I looked at my chain and to Aoba, scowling at him so hard that the flower accessories in my hair could have popped off my head like popcorn. He just faced forward with a small smirk on his face.
1...0! And so we all dashed quickly, although some of us almost tripped over each other.
The first task was right ahead of us, and it was a simple target practice booth that you would see at a boardwalk, festival, or carnival. Monokuma dolls were on the shelves with red targets attached to their belly buttons. A plaque was right next to the booth and I began to read it aloud.
"Hit the targets—"
And Gold just knocked over all of them with his pool cue nonchalantly, "Done and done, what's next?".
We all blankly stared at him, " I wasn't finished.", I told him as new dolls plopped onto the shelves.
"Hit the targets… while standing on the specified area away from them." I finished as I spotted a marked checkpoint… about 50 meters away.
"Oh. Welp, my bad!" Gold put his hands behind his head as we all fell over.
The floor then started to rumble as the Exisals appeared from underground platforms, along with something else.
"Weapons? Well for some of us they won't be very useful. Ha." Espio softly smiled as he looked at the selection Monokuma had for us.
Pistols, bows and arrows, throwing stars… and baseballs? What a strange thing to have among these dangerous projectiles. Although, this is based on a carnival game.
"Well, why don't we decide which pair goes first. Rock-Paper-Scissors, anyone?" Killua suggests playfully.
"A bit childish, but it's the quickest option." Aoba said.
"Ah. Alright, if you fools are ready to lose, then sure!" Miles chuckled.
"You're on!" Gold cracks his knuckles.
Hm, it's not too surprising to see them so competitive, but still, we need to take this more seriously.
"Uh… what is Rock-Paper-Scissors?" Bernadetta asked, and I sighed.
"A quick hand game used to decide certain actions. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beat paper. Rock is symbolized by a fist, scissors by holding out your middle and index finger, and paper is a flat hand." I explained as she tried to mimic the hand motions I demonstrated.
"Okay, here we go! Rock-Paper-Scissors!" We all shouted, throwing out our choices.
3 rocks, 3 scissors, 3 papers, and one uh… half scissor from Bernadetta. Let's try this again.
4 rocks and 6 scissors, Gold, Bernadetta, Miles, and Aoba are eliminated.
"Tch." I heard my "partner" say as I gave a smug smile in his direction.
We kept going and eventually our team ended up going second, Espio managed to win, so he and Gold are first up.
Espio went for the ninja stars, unsurprisingly, and made quick work of the three targets.
"Very impressive." I told him and the chameleon blushed, aww...
"Now then, it's time for the hero of New Bark Town to shine!" Gold gloated.
"Shut up and show us what you're planning with that." Aoba gestured towards the baseball he had in his hand.
"Heh… you'll see." Gold spun his pool cue like a helicopter blade before laying the ball on the ground.
He studied the targets and adjusted his aim. Sweat rolled down his face as the clock ticked down.
"HA!" The pool cue launches the baseball and it bounces around like crazy, I had to duck as it soared past my head. It could have knocked it off my neck at the speed it was going at!
"Hey!" I shouted at the spiky-haired idiot.
Killua short hopped over the ball as it went his way.
"Ahhhh!" Bernadetta barely manages to dodge it.
"Ow! Why me?!" Ishigami winced as it bounced off the back of his head.
"Sheesh man! Work on your aim!" Miles yelled at him.
The ball then knocked over all the dolls in a row.
"I just did." Gold gave a thumbs up as the rest of us facepalmed. Very, very, reckless.
"It looks like we have the lead. Let us away." Espio told his partner.
Gold then rolled away on his skateboard to keep up with Espio's speed, as I went to the weapons table, picking up a bow and five arrows. Aoba grabbed a pistol.
"Never took you for the archer type." Miles told me as I made my way towards the marked area.
"Well there's a lot you all don't know about me." I responded with a grin.
Killua placed his arms behind his head,"Yeah, definitely… you better be as good an archer as… that one guy I met. Forgot his name, but he was okay."
"Well then, go for it HawkAi." Aoba looked directly at the target, obviously doubting me.
"I don't know why, but that name sounds kinda familiar." Miles pondered as the 30 minute timer started for my run.
I pulled back the string and aimed closely… and one target hit so far. I heard a whistle and I'm pretty sure it was Aoba.
I looked at the next arrow, but then noticed that this one looked kinda different. Paper wings were attached to it.
I fire that one next…. And it glides over to the left. Everyone stayed silent after that one, and I felt myself blush. They could at least cheer.
Next arrow had a spring instead of an arrowhead, and it caused it to bounce off the target and not knock it down. I only had two arrows left… if I miss now…
I took a deep breath before taking out the arrow with a round ball like shape at the front of it. It was covered in a red cloth and had a target symbol on it.
I pull back…. And release.
BOOM
A…. bomb arrow. It destroyed the remaining targets… as well as the front half of the booth. Um… at least I pass.
"Good thing you didn't drop that thing, jeez…" Aoba said as he took aim at newly placed targets via ventilation tubes.
"Careful with that thing." I told him.
"Hmph, pretty hypocritical Ms. Bomb Arrow." He snarked as he fired two bullets at the first target, then a third to knock it down.
He finished the rest of them off with 25 minutes to spare. I make sure he returns the gun before we leave and Killua & Trunks have their turn.
The next three challenges weren't too difficult, since both me and Aoba were smart enough to answer questions and solve some puzzles. Mining blocks to find a specific object, a rhythm minigame, and grabbing specific letters to form a word. This actually helped us get a bit of a lead, since Espio has the only brain cell in his team and even then he overthinks some things.
"The letters… they won't stop touching and exploding before I can form it... " I hear the poor chameleon huddled in the corner.
The fifth challenge was titled Rebuttal Showdown.
The two of us were given a handful of knives and we had to slice through words made out of balloons, and we had to use a specific knife to cut through a certain statement.
I looked over the labeled knives and chose the one that had Truth written on it, while Aoba had Ideals. It looked like we made the right choices as the game was over quickly. We slashed through the bright orange word balloons and the timer stopped. 30 minutes seems kind of pointless if certain challenges can be completed so quickly.
We stopped to take a break at the center of the area. The grassy field I saw before, although renovated without the burn marks and puddles (seriously what was up with that?). This place has quite a number of apartment complexes and even a black & white subway that could take us to previous areas in the city. Asides from the carnival area and the stadium, this is much more calm compared to the large electric billboards and such from the last section.
"It's only going to get much more difficult from here…" I told Aoba as I gulped down water.
"That was pretty obvious going in. A gauntlet usually has the greater challenges toward the end while the competitors are fatigued. Though I imagine you don't get tired, being undead and all." He sips a soda slowly.
"Not that often, but it's not easy being an idol you know. The practice done for singing, dance choreography, advertising, meet-and-greets…" I slow down towards the end as I'm busy remembering why I'm working so hard here.
So I could go back and save my friends that I care for dearly, as well as returning to the idol life that I was revived for. Franchouchou can't end here, our saga has to continue… it needs to…
"You're thinking about home, aren't you?"
I look to my left to see Trunks standing there, Killua busy getting a candy bar at the vending machine next to us.
"Yes. I refuse to just succumb to this hell that we're trapped in, I owe it to the people I care about not to give up. We've come too far to just crash and burn. We are going to get out of here together. And if… no when we escape… I'm going to use the experiences we have endured to better myself and the members of my group. That will be our revenge against the mastermind." I told him before eating out of the specially made bentos for us.
"I see… I think I have a better understanding now of how you go about things. I was mistaken for a while, but Ai, you truly are reliable enough ha." Trunks genuinely smiled for the first time in forever.
I reciprocated that smile, "You flatter me, but thank you. Also… enough? Enough for what?" I asked him.
"Well, uh, y'see… oof!" Killua elbowed him in the back, "Stop flirting and let's go big guy."
"Flirting?! I have a girlfriend back home, that is not what I was doing there!" Trunks got defensive.
"Also, how old are you man? She's a freaking teenager you old perv." Killua just kept on with the verbal punishment.
"Why you—"
"Can you shut it you two? I don't want to continue this thing while having a migraine." Aoba's face was in his hands.
"Then let's just get back to work, shall we?" I suggested.
"Agh, whatever, just keep it down. I'm going to take a quick nap." Aoba scoffed as he laid down on a bench.
Time passed by and soon everyone was taking a break. After that last task, it's all free roaming from here on out. We won't be able to see much of each other until this is over, so we thought to use this time well. There's no time limit unless we're doing tasks, so might as well take advantage of it.
"A concert during a big snowstorm? Your manager really does sound insane." Killua was on his fourth box of chocolate as he talked with his mouth full.
"Tell me about it. His antics almost push me to the edge on a daily basis, ha…" I laughed it off.
"So you all really kept on performing, even though the stage was getting wrecked?" Miles asked and I nodded yes, "Dang, I'd pay to go to Japan and see that. How'd you survive that anyways?"
"Uh… just some good luck I guess. I was even the first one standing back up after it collapsed." I lied about the first part.
"Alright people, the camaraderie is over, time to finish this damn thing." Aoba decides to kill the mood.
"Aw… it was getting good too!" Emma complained.
"Yeah! Your friends sound pretty cool Ai, especially the blonde biker chick. Think you can introduce me to her when we get out?"
"No way in hell, Gold." I told him as we all separated to go do the remaining half of the tasks.
"Aoba, that is your fourth time failing, I can just sing again so we could move on!"
8th task, must get two perfect scores on a karaoke machine. I already got mine easily, but…
"I will keep trying, damn it! I'm not letting a rotting corpse do better than me! And it's the short tv-version of the song anyways!" Aoba shouted at me.
"Ugh, just shut up and let me finish it." I take the microphone away from him as I go through the song he tried to sing for the fifth time.
The day you laugh rough lie lie lie
Give up nante yosou rongai
Atama no naka, mechakucha ni nattemo
Madamada tarinai
Jamasae nai
Yukai janai?
Hikari suspect sugata ni naritai dake sa
Bokura, ima wo ikiteiru
Sono hi ga kuru to shinji, ikiteiru
And right as I heard the machine guns on the Exisals click, I see the score on the screen.
PERFECT! 999 PTS!
I laughed a little bit when I heard Aoba grumble to himself, it's fun when he doesn't get his way.
"Okay, just two more remaining, and they're both right at Maru Stadium. Let's finish this!"
We both made our way to there, unaware of what we were going to face, but ready regardless.
"Wooo! Just got through!" Emma cheered.
"I wanna go home…" Bernadetta sobbed.
Both of their outfits had little tears from the Exisal bullets.
"Don't quit now, Bernie!" We just have three more left after this! Can't win if we just stand still, right?" Emma tries to encourage the recluse.
"I guess, but… AHH! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Bernadetta screams as she sees Miles dragging Ishigami's body on the ground.
"He fainted after the Exisals activated. Lucky I had some extra webbing to hold them back, but we didn't get away unscathed." Miles pointed to the matching scars on both his and Ishigami's faces, "Spidey-Sense really helped there, ha."
"Hoooooo, I'm not gonna make it…" Bernadetta wobbled to the ground.
"Don't give up yet Bernie!" Emma shakes the poor girl to try to get her back to her senses.
"You finally saw what I'm getting at with trusting her, right?" Killua asked Trunks as they walked to the second to last task.
"I do get it now, Ai's a natural-born leader. Her dedication to leading her idol group, it seems as though she's been using those same tactics with us."
"Told you so dude." Killua smiled.
"And the fact that she could pull off shows at Saga Rock and Arpino even with disasters occuring, it's admirable. Lightning striking the stage at the former, a snow storm collapsing everything at the latter… how could a girl like her survive that?" Trunks pondered.
"... Eh, might as well tell you. 'Cause she's a zombie." Killua bluntly reveals.
"WHAT?!" Trunks bursted out.
"Be quiet. No normal idol could get through those kinds of events without already being dead. It makes sense. No questions please, since I don't know everything about that."
"It does add up… I'm just surprised by it all, although it's not the strangest thing I've seen." Trunks rubs the back of his head.
"Right? Still, I don't know how the others will react, so she's still gotta be cautious. Anyways, aside from that, I think she can pull through for us, do you?" Killua gives him a question instead.
"Hm… that girl's already doing a lot, having to keep her secret and manage this group… there's also Aoba and the mastermind to contend with." Trunk brings up.
"I told you, this plan will make the mastermind's killing game fall apart. And Aoba, I got something special for him right here." Killua takes out a small box and Trunks opens it.
"How is this going to help against someone like him?"
"I said no questions, Trunks." Killua shakes his head.
"Right…"
"Alright, we're here. You didn't answer my question though. Do you think Ai will succeed for our sake?" Killua asked him again as they stopped walking.
"... I will put my faith in her. I can't believe I forgot all this time… the power of believing in others, the power of believing in something bigger than ourselves."
"Heh, aren't you a softy? It's time to put the plan into motion. I'm counting on you, partner." Killua smiles as the two of them look to the stadium.
"I'm fully prepared now. Let's fight on." Trunks states confidently.
One year ago, April 26, 2020. Danganronpa: Fictional Nexus debuted, and I am so happy so many people have loved it. Thank you all so much for everything. From kudos, to comments, to reading through every chapter, it means a lot to someone like me. I look forward to the end of this story, as well as the other ones I can tell in the Fictional Saga. The trilogy and spinoff. Also yeah, gonna be an Ultra Despair Girls-like spinoff, although with much less Byakuya thirsting and more of a group of ten characters from different universes fighting Ball Monokumas. Gonna be fun, see you all next time! Like always, feel free to give your thoughts on the story so far, share favorite moments, even predictions for the future.