Why is everything so silent?
As I looked at the remains of the broken controller on the ground, that was all I could think of. I was aware of my laboured breathing, the sniffles that escaped me and the sound of my tears dropping onto the floor and yet...
Why is that all I can hear?
The almost random thought managed to rouse me and I finally tore my eyes away from the ground to look at the others. Two people had tears in their eyes and couldn't seem to bring themselves to even look at the proof of my actions in front of me. The other two had satisfied smiles on their faces, although the lone male in the room seemed more relieved than anything; a heavy tension in his shoulders was slowly draining away, replaced by a more relaxed stance.
Why is no one saying anything?
At last I heard it...The cheers of adults celebrating the fireworks of their salvation. The sound of thousands of Monokumas shutting down was drowned out by the shock waves of explosion after explosion, each one a herald of yet another child dying at their saviours hands. My hands.
And they cheered.
My gaze drifted to Monaca. She had yet to say anything either, seemingly content listening to Kotoko's open weeping and flinching whenever an explosion could be heard. While I was staring into her eyes, I forced myself to listen to the world outside. I needed to listen. This was after all my doing...My fault. The cacophony lasted longer than I had expected, and the booming and cheering from outside slowly melted together with Kotoko's cries of distress and Haiji's occasional triumphant chuckle in the room. To me hoewever it all started sounding like meaningless white noise. The sounds kept coming and coming, but I couldn't make sense of any of it any more. Was I supposed to cheer like the adults? Or should I finally break down and start crying in earnest like Kotoko? As I continued to struggle with my confusing emotions, the lump of anxiety inside me only seemed to grow with every passing second. Eventually I clutched my hands to my chest in a futile effort to relief my anxiety. From within my whirling thoughts I only managed to produce one thought clear enough to process:
What now?
As the explosions finally seemed to die down I couldn't help but relax a bit since this would finally be over soon...then Monaca's mouth twitched slightly and my heart clenched immediately even tighter, fearing something even worse was about to happen. The sound of a lone detonation ended ringing in my ears, but my insides seemed to vibrate slightly longer in the long ensuing silence. The heavy anticipation in my heart slowly melted away.
It's done...
Finally Monaca smiled a true smile, our eyes still locked. Then as if timed perfectly with the relief that I would no longer be tortured by listening to the consequences of my actions, more explosions kept battering against my very soul, not as many as before, but quickly ending with longer and longer silences between blasts.
Stop...please...
Every time my own voice berated me in my head, when I dared to hope that it would finally, finally end:"Did you really think it would be that easy? You deserve so much worse" The primal cheering of the crowd outside had changed to a chant that filled the silence between each and every loudly audible death: "Komaru Naegi! Komaru Naegi! Komaru Naegi!..."
Demons. I couldn't help but call them that. What else could I call them? They relished this...didn't they? They truly deserved the moniker the children had given them...Demons.
If they are demons what does that make me? They are like this...because of me...aren't they?
I refused to acknowledge the thought, as at last the explosions truly came to a stop.
It was over...right? I...I was done...right? At the moment I wanted nothing more than to hide myself in the covers of my bed and cry myself to sleep. Maybe...maybe all of this was just a bad dream and everything would be fine when I finally woke up? I would gladly take boring imprisonment over this. When would this nightmare end? Just please let me be done with this...
"You did a great job big sis!" Monaca's cheerful exclamation brought my mind back to reality. Of course it wasn't a dream...this was...this...was... "Komaru!" Finally Toko decided to speak up." I-It doesn't matter what happened here today!" The very notion of her sentence caused my jaw to drop. I could do nothing but stare dumbly at Toko as she continued her speech. "None of it is your fault! It was all this messed up brat!" She pointed angrily towards Monaca. This didn't seem to bother her all that much and the happy smile she wore on her face caused me to tremble slightly as she calmly responded."What are you talking about? Big sis was the one who killed all the children. She knew what would happen, but she did it anyway." "Th-That doesn't mean she wanted to! Y-You f-forced her to!" Toko's stutter as she attempted to refute the child, made me question how much she truly meant her words."Komaru isn't the one who put those helmets on the kids in the first place! She n-never wanted to have a-anything to do with this!" While a part of me couldn't help but appreciate her efforts, a much bigger part seemed to scream the words Monaca spoke next before she even opened her mouth. A truth no amount of denial could cover up. "When why didn't she leave?" "H-huh?" Toko quickly lost her momentum as she processed the words. "Remember? At the shrine with Nagisa. She could have left then. But she chose not to. Do you know why big sis Komaru stayed? It was you." "B-but-" "She felt like she couldn't leave you behind despite how you betrayed her trust. You helped her soooo much after all. A friend doesn't leave her friend behind. Such hopeful thoughts." "But I-" "It's like I said earlier:
"Hope isn't always a good thing". Big sis understands those words better than anyone now. You on the other hand, should be very happy, because you held up your end of the bargain..." She quickly reached under the folds of her skirt and retrieved a key. "Congratulations Toko you can free your beloved Byakuya Togami now, you can safely flee Towa City and get your perfect happy ending."With those words she tossed the key into the arms of Toko, who automatically caught it with stunned eyes.
"B-But...this isn't wha-" "This is exactly what you wanted. You completed your quest, so now you can save your prince. You readily sacrificed the pawn to save your king. You won." "Komaru isn't some pawn in your game!" Toko's angry shout seemed to surprise Monaca just as much as me. I couldn't help but totally focus my attention on my friend."K-Komaru doesn't deserve any of this...If anything I'M responsible for allowing her to make a choice that she couldn't handle on her own. I should have helped her...I-I should have helped my friend." Finally Toko turned to look at me. "I'm sorry Komaru. It's my fault you're hurting right now. I-I won't ever abandon you again. I'm your friend after all" I could barely croak out a response to her heartfelt words and the genuine smile on her face. "T-Toko...th-thank you." I managed to show her a shadow of a smile myself.
As long as I have you...maybe...maybe it will all turn out all right after all.
"Hmm...I wonder about that." Monaca playfully put her hand on her chin in a thinking position. That was all it took for me to break out into a cold sweat. No...please stop. "You might say that you would never abandon big sis, but what if your beloved Byakuya were in terrible danger?" "W-What?" Toko quickly turned toward the child. "What is that supposed to mean?" As if in explanation the very building started to shake in an odd a rhythmic pattern. Our shared confusion didn't last long as a giant shadow stepped into view. No... Big Bang Monokuma stood ominously before us, his giant jagged eye glowing a threatening bloody red. Even him?
The giant Monokuma raised his scepter and with a booming Puhuhuhu! the side of the building was split open with a simple swing.
Dust and debris filled the room, as the noise drowned out the shocked cries of everyone sans Monaca and I was forced to close my eyes and fell into a coughing fit. Before I could fully regain my bearings a second impact rattled the ceiling above me. A worried Toko shouted my name and I was suddenly yanked away from where I had been standing. I heard more than I saw the large piece of the ceiling that fell down all around my previous location. For the next few seconds all I could do was cover myself as more and more parts of the building collapsed. Finally the Monokuma stopped it's aussault and it ended.
Still fighting to stop my coughing I cried out as best I could. "Toko? Toko are you okay?" The lack of an immediate response made me frantic."Toko ! Please say something!" Finally I received an answer. "I'm fine! But this stupid stuff is everywhere!" The sound of an impact followed by that of debris moving followed. "Aargh! I-I can't get to you! You're cut off from us. Can you get through from your side?" Only now did I realize my position. Toko had inadvertently brought me towards the hole that had opened up in the building, but once the ceiling had started collapsing it had brought down all the sections that were weakened from the first strike on the building. The result was exactly what Toko had described. I was cut off. The collapsed ceiling formed a barrier all around my front, while my back was toward the huge drop that awaited me if I was careless. And I couldn't find any openings on my side either. For the moment I was alone.
PUHUHUHU!
Terror once again gripped my heart. No...of course I wasn't alone.
A quick glance was all I could manage before the sinister glare of Big Bang Monokuma caused me to rush for the debris trapping me on this impromptu balcony. Frantically I started digging away at the barrier. Desperate I shouted:" Toko! Toko I need your help! The Monokuma is right here! Please you have to help me get through here!" A curse and a quick shout at Haiji to finally make himself useful told me she had heard me. Shortly after that, I could hear digging from the other side accompanied by Toko's voice. "Don't worry this won't take long, j-just stay calm!" That was easier said when done, since I could hear the massive Monokuma wind up for another attack.
Fortunately my recently developed combat instincts kicked in. Turning around I reached for my hacking gun and shouted with more calmness than I truly felt. "Break!" Not bothering to wait for the little *click* that signalled the change in the hacking settings, I immediately started to pull the trigger over and over again, aiming at the giant glowing eye that was the weak spot common in all the Monokumas I had battled before. Despite its massive size the hits seemed to stun the behemoth and it staggered backwards slightly. Unsure if it would be able to actually affect my enemy, I tried to capitalize on the moment."Burn!" *click* A hail of crimson rained upon the motionless eye and despite my expectations I saw sparks erupting from the impact points. Slowly all the things that had troubled me left my mind and a sense of calm came over me. It's just like all the others. You can do this Komaru! Ignoring the concerned voices that had grown slightly more audible, I stepped away from the wall separating me from the others and moved to stand in the middle of my little outcropping. Gripping my hacking gun with renewed determination I awaited the next move my adversary would make.
A short burst of yellow erupting within the eye was all the warning I got, before a wave of electricity spewed from the mouth towards the outer edge of my platform. Before I could will my legs to carry me backwards, my body seized up from the shock and I dropped to my knees in pain. Breathing heavily I failed to muster the strength to stand. Not stopping to wait for me, Big Bang Monokuma raised his scepter and a cyan glow overcame his eye this time. To my astonishment the top of his "weapon" detached itself from the main shaft and flung itself towards me like a massive wrecking ball. My hesitation lasted barely half a second, before my prior experience caused me to call out my next command."Knockback!" *click* Waiting slightly longer than I truly felt comfortable, I pulled the trigger just before the ball could flatten me. Immediately, the code I had injected into, what must have been a remote controlled bomb of some kind, caused it to turn against it's former master and collided into the sparking eye with a great bang. Stumbling slightly, I used the Monokuma's brief inability to act to pick myself up from the ground on shaky legs. Surveying the damage I had inflicted so far, I noticed the cracked glass of the eye as well as the smoke that had started to rise from the exposed electronics. Not much more to go. He's almost done.
Another angry flash of yellow alerted me and I instinctively knew what to do. As I hastily stepped back to avoid the electronic "breath", the lingering after-effects the shock had inflicted on me caused me to fall onto my butt, luckily I had managed to land just outside of the area of effect. I quickly aimed my hacking gun at the exposed electronics in Monokuma's cracked eye."Paralyze" *click* I pulled the trigger. The giant metallic groan that I heard just after my attack landed, convinced me that if I hadn't won already, it would only take a little bit more effort. The sluggish movements of the machine proved that it wasn't quite done yet however and I searched for the opportunity I needed to put this monster down for good. Frustratingly it seemed that some Monokuma's could learn after all. As the metallic bear turned to me once more it carefully held it's empty hand protectively over the point I had exploiting up until now. Before I knew it, he raised his scepter once more as if threatening to smash me and the building once and for all. Thinking quickly I tried to end this before it came to that."Move!" *click* Shooting my hacking gun at the covered weak point; I saw the weapon begin it's descend towards me slightly faster than the arm that moved to obey the command of my gun. Scooting backwards I frantically called out "Break!" *click*
The massive scepter shattered the ground just before me.
Toko's frantic shout barely reached my ears as I desperately clung to the piece of floor I had been lying on. The ground beneath me seemed to groan and crumble and before I could do anything but shout my friends name, I was falling through the damaged part of the building before it turned into a free-fall towards the rapidly approaching street.
A detached part of myself noted that my journey had started by falling from a helicopter.
It seemed the climax of the story would end by falling from a building.
I wondered if there had been any point in this journey there I hadn't been falling.