I slowly faded back into consciousness only to wince as a sharp pain shot through the right side of my torso when I shifted my body. Calming my breathing as best I could, I attempted to sit up without further agitating the injury I had sustained in my fall. Checking myself over, I noticed several small cuts and bruises on my arms and legs. As I rubbed my head to dispel the remaining grogginess from my mind, I discovered a wet spot in my hair. Evidently I had suffered some form of head injury as well, but since I didn't seem to have any problems besides a growing headache, I concluded it had to be a minor one. Spotting my hacking gun lying just a short distance away from me I thought myself quite lucky to come away from my fall in such a good state.
Lucky...heh. Maybe I am somewhat like Makoto after all...
No, Makoto wasn't the brother I had grown up with anymore.
He's the Ultimate Hope now. And while I tried to be like him so, so much, I ended up...I had...
NO! There were more important things now. I had to concentrate. Where was Big Bang Monokuma? What happened to the others? Immediately I looked up and it didn't take long to spot the giant bear towering directly above me. From what little I could see from this angle, it seemed Big Bang Monokuma had stopped attacking and was simply staring at the spot I had fought him from previously.
He must think that I died. For some reason he must have wanted to kill only me. He doesn't seem to care about the others at all. As I considered the situation, I noticed something about Big Bang Monokuma's stance that caused me to gasp in surprise, which immediately resulted in another wave of pain from my injury. The arm no longer covered the heavily damaged eye. Stealing a glance at my hacking gun, I observed my enemy once more. When even after a minute nothing happened, I began to slowly shuffle towards my weapon, ready to play dead any second if he decided to check for me after all.
I can still get him!
After a painful couple of minutes trying to minimize the pounding of my heart as well as that of my injured ribs, a sudden commotion from above caused me to stop. "Komaru! Komaru are you okay? Can you hear me?" Toko's frantic shouting almost caused me to reply before I thought better of it. I'm sorry Toko. But I can't reveal myself just yet. I have to do this! "Komaru! Please, tell me you're okay! I'll...I'll come down, don't worry. Just... just stay where you are and I'll find you!" Although Toko's concerned shouts were hard to listen to, I managed to stop myself from alerting Big Bang Monokuma to my presence and continued my slow shuffling atop the debris.
Finally I reached my hacking gun and picked it up. Looking at my target I cursed under my breath. From my new position I had no way of hitting the weak point and I really didn't like the idea of making another trip, especially since my headache had grown worse during the time it took me to get here. I might not be able to aim properly by the time I get into position. In fact the edges of my vision had already grown somewhat blurry. Perhaps my head injury was worse than it first had seemed. The thought of simply waiting for Toko crossed my mind but I shook it off.
Big Bang Monokuma is after me. So I'll finish this myself. Shaking my head to free it of the haziness as best I could, I aimed my hacking gun towards the spot I anticipated the giant jagged eye to be in, once I started my plan.
Breaking the controller might not have gotten rid of you...
I took a breath as deep as my wound would allow.
...but I'll destroy you all the same!
"BREAK!"
Big Bang Monokuma immediately responded to the sound of my voice. However as he slowly moved to look at me all I felt was a cold empty terror in my heart.
"No! No! NO!" Where was the sound that signaled the change in my hacking settings? I grew increasingly frantic as I pulled the trigger over and over to no avail.
The gun was not firing.
The gun was not firing!
The gun was not firing!
"Burn!" Nothing...
"Paralyze!" Nothing!
Big Bang Monokuma was finally standing poised for his attack against me. He slowly raised his foot and brought it forward in a an awkward mimicry of a football player.
"No...please! TOKO HELP ME!"
My shout for help went unheard and I cried out in pain as I was launched backwards through the air. I somehow managed to hold onto my hacking gun until I collided with the wet ground and the shock of the impact forced me to drop it at my side. Clutching at the stinging pain, I now had to deal with the addition of an annoying sticky feeling covering most of my body.
Wait...sticky? And why is the ground wet? Ugh! And this horrible smell of- My eyes shot open.
Blood.
It was everywhere...
Blood.
All around me in all directions filling the entire alley I had landed in.
Blood.
THEIR BLOOD!
It filled my entire world. No matter where I looked, I saw their blood. And then I noticed the dead children scattered all over the alley. I could see the stumps of their necks just below where their heads should have been. The heads that I had taken from them. No matter how tightly I closed my eyes and voiced my denial, I could still smell it all. I could see it all. I could feel them lying all around me. I felt the color...
!!RED!
I did this.
Puhuhuh! The gleeful, booming laughter of Big Bang Monokuma made me realize.
I had only survived so far because he had wanted me to see this. He had wanted me to understand.
And I finally did.
And because I understood, now he would finally kill me.
The remaining parts of the giant jagged eye glowed blood red as he slowly raised his scepter for - what I knew to be- the final time.
And in that moment nothing could have been more welcome to me.
A broken hollow laugh escaped my lips.
"Hehe...I see now." I picked the blood-coated hacking gun back up from the ground beside me and gripped it tightly. It had brought me this far and I felt that it should meet it's end when I met mine.
"So this...this is Despair"
*click*
More by instinct than by choice I pulled the trigger when I heard the familiar sound.
Immediately a purplish-black sphere shot out and made it's way towards Big Bang Monokuma. As if guiding itself, the ball of energy flew towards the exposed electronics of the damaged eye. I half expected the giant machine to explode in a massive fireball, however the bear instead simply ceased all movements instantly. The red eye stopped glowing and as if to lament his demise Big Bang Monokuma gave one last "Puhuhuhuuu" before completely shutting down. I stared at the inert bear, fully expecting him to have pretended just to taunt me.
What kind of program was THAT supposed to be anyway? For all the flashiness that was pretty underwhelming...
Moments later however, more and more parts of the machine started to fall apart. Metal plates started to shed away from the main body and the inner electronic parts started to fall through the gaps. It felt like I was seeing a robotic corpse decaying in fast-forward before my very eyes. Transfixed by the sight I at first failed to notice Big Bang Monokuma's scepter falling away from it's now defunct master. As I noticed the shadow of the falling weapon that threatened to crush me however, I only smiled.
Heh! Of course I get to die like this. By beating my enemy in a surprise twist, I end up causing my own death anyway. Despair upon Despair.
Once again however, death seemed unwilling to take me on this day. A blur passed over me and intercepted the object that had been about to flatten me. The weapon was forced off course with a great impact and ended up crashing several meters away from me, while my savior landed by my side. Expecting to see Genocide Jack, I was taken aback by the sight of the person who had saved my life. It was a young man, maybe slightly older than me. His hair was ridiculously long and he was wearing a well tailored black suit that was completely devoid of blood, despite landing in the alley that had caused my own clothes to be permanently ruined. The most striking feature however were his emotionless face and a pair of bright red eyes.
Who the hell is THIS guy?
He seemed to scrutinize me for a moment but before I could open my mouth to speak, he caught something that had fallen out of the head of the still decaying Big Bang Monokuma. Surprised, it took me a moment to speak. "Shirokuma? That was you?"A snort escaped me, "Of course, I should have known. You were in on all of this too weren't you?" Shirokuma ignored my rhetorical question and spoke with my rescuer instead. "Well, well...who would have thought that those kids would actually pull it off? A successor for Despair hmm...what do you think?" The man simply spared another glance at me before finally speaking in a monotone voice.
"I suppose...she might be interesting after all." He moved quicker than I could react and before I knew it, I felt a quick jab and everything went black.